Why Skype Can’t Replace a Phone (Top 10 Skype WTF’s)

Let me preface by saying I love Skype dearly. The poweful little program and a headset gets you: free calls to, and conferences with, other Skypers worldwide; cheap calls (couple cents a minute on average) to landlines worldwide; the ability to rent a very cheap SkypeIn number that landline users can call you through; voicemail and call forwarding. Skype also set up a free wifi network around Stockholm, yay for me.

For better or worse, I am married to Skype. I regularly do Skype conferences. I have three SkypeIn numbers and a Skype phone. Sure, toying with Skype is fun and it’s a great way to chat with old college buddies and such. But before you decide to use it as your primary source of business communication, as I was briefly dumb enough to do while traveling, consider the following WTF’s.

10. Skype runs stuff on port 80. I once spent a few hours banging my head against the wall because Apache did not want to start on my machine. After a lot of research, I realized that Skype by default runs stuff on port 80, since that port is rarely blocked. You can turn this off, but WTF?

9. Busted caller ID. When you call using SkypeOut, your number will appear as something like “012 345…”. The person you’re calling will inevitably comment, “Oh, that’s a weird number you’re calling from,” and then you have to explain that you’re a cheapass who uses Skype. Other VoIP’s often have normal caller ID.

8. No emergency dialing. Basically, that means you have to have a phone, unless you’re  immune to heart attacks and live in a ivory tower.

7. Lax security. We don’t know how Skype’s security works, if at all, because it’s closed source. Even if their secret security system somehow protects you from hackers listening to your babble, it might not protect you from invasions of privacy at the company’s hands. Read on…

6. Owned by Ebay. I happen to hate Ebay because it’s tacky and plagued by fraud, phishing, etc. More importantly, their privacy policy is awful. So you’d probably be wise keeping any confidential information off Skype. Rough deal if you’re using it for business.

5. Limited Skype-compliant hardware. Sure, you can use a headset, but if you want the classical phone experience with number buttons and so forth, you’re pretty limited in your options. For just over $100 I bought the Linksys Skype phone, which doesn’t work with USB hubs and feature-wise is awkward at best.

4. Calling to cell phones abroad still damned expensive. Not sure if this is a Skype-specific flaw, however.

3. Dropped connections. Skype will only be as good as your net connection. And even then, with an excellent connection, I’ve gotten a good deal of dropped calls.

2. Weird pound sign that doesn’t quite work. You know all those automated systems, like bank and conference lines, that have you enter your code and then the pound sign? Half the time, the pound sign is no go if you’re using SkypeOut. This has caused me more than one missed conference call.

1. Computer required. This is quite clearly the big flaw. Unlike some other VoIP systems which plug right into your broadband line, you need your computer to be on all the time if you’re going to regularly take Skype calls. Oh, and you can’t leave your house. You can have SkypeIn forward calls to another line, but that means Skype still can’t replace a phone. Skype is also coming out with wifi phones that will enable you to walk around their wifi zones and take Skype calls directly, but that doesnt sound too useful right now unless youre in central Stockholm.

So that pretty much settles it. You can’t use Skype to replace your phone.