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For years I've only kept my cell as my only phone. Unfortunately, I'm spending a lot of time on the phone lately. The cell works well in that the little lady and I are both on Verizon, so it costs us nothing, but the call quality sucks.
I was thinking of getting a couple of Skype phones that can run without a PC, and using SkypeOut/In. Anyone else here using it for that? How well does it work? Quirks, frustrations? Quality? Hidden fees?
Honestly?
Don't do it.
The battery life on the current generation of wifi phones suck. Also, they tend to crash... a lot. And the quality... unless you're in a pure 802.11g environment, being Skype and wifi means a lot of delays and dropped words. USB phones are ok... but I swear some aren't worth it. And the dual-mode phones... you'd better have a QoS enabled router and a good solid upload speed for optimum quality.
I got the Skype unlimited per year deal - got in before January 31st for 14.99, it costs 29.99 now - and I use it quite often with the laptop, a headset and (somebody's) wifi when I'm out and about... but the fact that Skype has no central servers and due to the P2P-ish nature of Skype, you become a node on their network. Which doesn't sound like much... but when you're not using it, you might be using bandwidth.
It's pretty decent, but I'd say that other options are just as good, if not better.
I'm still thinking of setting up a review of: Skype, VoiceStick, and Magicjack once I ever finish up my blog re-re-redesign.
444 pages and having to make things IE compatible since they represent the majority of my viewers is KILLING me... ugh.
If you don't go unlimited per year... there are connection fees that can nickel and dime you to death if you go the pre-pay via Paypal or (now) buy time from Wal-Mart.
But the quality at times... it can make you lose your religion. Other times, it's as clear as a cell phone. Calling out to cell phones is... can be problematic. And from Skype to Skype... it just takes one of you to be a bit slow or doing something... delays.
Yahoo's VoIM (Voice over IM) or even GTalk is even better than Skype between machines. Gizmo Project has proven to be better, and it has a server based network, unlike Skype. And it's a SIP based phone though... so it's based on an open protocol... again unlike Skype. But the minimum for calling out to people is a bit expensive if they don't use Gizmo too.
If you're in T-Mobile land... check out their UMA phones. Switches to wifi when you're near a router. I seriously want one. read more here... mute your machine though, it's one of the loudest damn sites... evar.
I hope that helps somewhat.