[3GScottishUser]

I must admit I have not gone near it either on the Skypephone or my contract handset for a long while.

It's still a great concept but maybe just too much bother?

[Hands0n]

Lack of fellow users? My use is very occasional to chat with a mate in Hong Kong. But I do not have any other pals that I could Skype to. It has its purposes, but I figure that after all of this time Skype can only be considered niche.

[Ben]

Mhm. It just didn't 'do it' for me. I bet there are loads of immigrants using them, though, and people with friends/family overseas.

Tis a niche, tis all.

[3GScottishUser]

Shame really because if youth embrtaced the concept they could make calls and send messages to friends and family at a fixed monthly cost.

I am sure those with relatives abroad will have made use of the service and wonder if some investment in educating youth about the benefits of Skype could have been fruitful.

[gorilla]

I get quite excited about VOIP, well for a few seconds at least. I try to embrace skype, but until I know more people who use it, there is no place for it in my life. I do make use of truphone as they give you free landline calls (although this offer runs out on Friday!). We all can clearly see the benefits of voip, but until voip becomes as competitive as carriers such as 1899 (http://www.1899.com) then it will never become mainstream. Even vonage is still quite pricey.

I know a few people who recently joined 3, so maybe I'll try and use skype with them or MSN messaging as well.

[hecatae]

To prove the current voip pricing issue, Truphone have increased their original offer til June 1st 2008.

http://campaign-archive.com/archive.phtml?cid=G6E4NU0hlo&rid=F0Va477V1k


However, as a big thank you for being one of our early supporters, you can continue to enjoy your existing Launch Offer pricing (that means free calls to 40 countries) until June 1st

I'll never need to top up my truphone if they are having to extend the original offer.

[miffed]

I have never really understood the draw TBH - OK so there is lots of money to be saved , but with all my contracts I have free minutes coming out of my ears anyway

I just don't see the concept of routing voice calls down phone lines as revolutionary- even if it is Via IP ! :rolleyes:

[gorilla]

I use truphone simply because I only have 150 mins included in my tariff.

[Ben]

Mhm, the competition VoIP services provide is great... but at the end of the day adoption is low due to the added complexity. The mobile platform is, on the whole, pretty closed, but it wont stay that way forever.

[3GScottishUser]

I agree that these days I have more inclusive minutes and texts than I can make use of on a contract.

Where Skype might be useful would be calling others with the service abroad or if a group decided to use Skype on mobiles to keep in regular touch.

Skype is a bit more complex than normal voice calling but it is getting better and it's more stable than it once was.

Anyone who is familiar with MSN or Yahoo messenger should be able to use Skype on a mobile but Skype have confused the concept somewhat by making it a contact, phone and messenging service now.