Comments on: Skype: $30/year, all you can eat long distance

By: iPhoneSystems - VoIP News and info » Is new SkypeOut plan a good deal?

iPhoneSystems - VoIP News and info » Is new SkypeOut plan a good deal? — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 17:56:08 +0000

[...] The news has generated a lot of buzz among bloggers - Andy, Alec, and Frank. Bunch of questions about this, and will blog later. Meanwhile, tell us what you really think of this new move. [...]

By: Will Skype’s Pricing Put Its Growth On Hold?

Will Skype’s Pricing Put Its Growth On Hold? — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 13:06:39 +0000

[...] Alec Saunders, however, seems to have a differing viewpoint: “I must disagree. [...]

By: Zatz Not Funny!»Blog Archive » Digital Media Bytes: Skype Edition

Zatz Not Funny!»Blog Archive » Digital Media Bytes: Skype Edition — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 12:43:41 +0000

[...] US/Canadian SkypeOut fees return in 2007: Alec Saunders [...]

By: The PhoneBoy Blog » Skype’s New Calling Plan

The PhoneBoy Blog » Skype’s New Calling Plan — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 09:39:54 +0000

[...] Oh yeah, everyone’s put in their two cents on this news. Skype is now offering an annual plan for $29.95/year (USD) that will allow residents of the US and Canada to make all the calls they want to the US and Canada. It’s basically a paid version of the free calling promotion they’ve had in place for the past several months. And if you act before 31 January 2007, the price is only $14.95/year. [...]

By: Alec

Alec — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 18:08:00 +0000

I’m with you Moshe! Nice post.

By: Moshe Maeir

Moshe Maeir — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 16:42:30 +0000

Cheap minutes is no longer the game. Service is King! http://flatplanetphone.com/wordpress/?p=17

By: Alec

Alec — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 16:41:13 +0000

Hey Don and Doug — what we’ve found, using it a lot, is that the quality of the firewall matters a great deal. We’ve just junked our old hardware firewall, and put a Linux PC up, for instance, and all of the sudden the calls are crystal clear.

And, as you both point out, the quality of the product is sometimes suspect. But you know… expensive IP Phones are only marginally better sometimes… It will all get better with time, as they all make improvements.

By: Alec

Alec — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 16:38:07 +0000

Irwin — I should have noted that. Having lots of experience with retail promotions, my belief is that they will see a lot of uptake on the $14.95 deal, and much slower on the $29.95. Price promotions tend to compress the sales cycle, but do little to bump overall demand. If the cut-price deal works, expect to people that would normally delay their purchase just make it a little sooner.

By: Alec

Alec — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 16:36:25 +0000

Chris — I do agree that the real money will be in the transaction based stuff. But the moves that they’re making to embed themselves in the call path have got to be taken seriously. Everything they’re doing is built around a model of dropping Skype clients onto existing devices.

By: Doug Hawkins

Doug Hawkins — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 16:33:33 +0000

I have to laugh at the fact that some company had to “estimate” the number of Skype users. All you have to do is look at the numbers in the Skype window on your desktop; which at this time stands at 8,266,559.

As to what Don Smith writes, he is right on the button. Skype is not ready for prime-time. They suffer mightily in two departments 1) Customer Service, e.g., there is not a single phone number anywhere, research that, for the user to contact Skype, and 2) Technical competance, e.g., they are understaffed with low-grade techs who are so hard trying to build market-share and develop new services that they cannot even keep Skype on-line without going black for extensive periods of time. I do not rely solely on Skype, I have Yahoo too. Maybe, put together, I can make consistent calls.