Skype-Ready Phones From Motorola 217
Hack Jandy writes "Seamlessly integrating VoIP and GSM might not be a fantasy after all, as Motorola announced their decision to build cell phones and handsets that have Skype Internet Telephony integrated into the devices. Obviously, one could use Skype for outgoing calls near wi-fi hotspots (essentially free) but default on GSM for outgoing calls in areas that lack coverage."
Wi-Fi is mostly free now... (Score:5, Insightful)
For that matter, how much bandwidth does a Skype VoIP call actually use?
Non-free hotspots? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:skype eh? (Score:2, Insightful)
Why bother with making something that nobody will support. This means that it is closer than we think.
Youre VoIP are belong to us... get it?
Have a good one
Who pays for it all? (Score:3, Insightful)
Please do not use Skype! (Score:4, Insightful)
Why would they bother with !skype (Score:4, Insightful)
Skype, sure. It's a truly alternative internet-based voice medium that doesn't directly compete with incumbment provider/pstn networks. No +1 NPA NNX NNNN dialing or anything Aunt Tilly would be used to.
I just don't see why they would shoot themselves in the foot by supporting SIP, IAX or MGCP.
Re:Please do not use Skype! (Score:2, Insightful)
Who pays for my web browsing? (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't know much about international telecoms but presumably any pipes and satellites that currently switch telephone calls internationally could be repurposed to carry 'generic' data (if they don't already). Presumably VOIP is more efficient in bandwidth terms than traditional telecoms as the encoding will minimise the amount of data sent and therefore it should be less expensive.
Re:Great for college! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Please do not use Skype! (Score:3, Insightful)
You're probably right. But name an alternative that my non-techie friends can install and works in MSWindows, Mac and Linux.
When such a beast will exist, I'll be more than happy to switch.
Re:Please do not use Skype! (Score:4, Insightful)
You are of course aware of the recommendation to use SIP over IPSec or TLS, right? So what are your security concerns, exactly?
In fact, I believe that the implementation of SIP in the mobile world (using the 3GPP standard IMS) makes it mandatory to use IPSec or TLS with SIP. SIP may not be perfect, but I think that the current best practices for its deployment are taking care of most of the issues.
I doubt that it will. They are using proprietary protocols and they made it clear that they do not intend to standardize. Not only that, but they also designed the Skype clients in such a way that they must check for updates and always run the latest version before being able to communicate with others. So they could change the protocols as soon as someone manages to reverse-engineer them.
Skype's technology is nice and works well. But if you value standards, open source and compatibility between multiple applications, then you should look at Skype with a more critical eye. You do not have to - it's your choice in the end.
Essentially Free???? (Score:2, Insightful)
Don't get me wrong, I'd like to see this mature, but big whoop at this point!
- Brian
Network effects (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm particularly interested in something open source, though, because Skype doesn't run on my ppc-linux system.
Re:Please do not use Skype! (Score:4, Insightful)
SIP is as crappy and NAT unfriendly as you can get with separate signalling and payload channels. Think sending information about voice payload endpoint to the party from behind the NAT device you don't control. You can get around some of those problems going through proxies etc, but such proxy would became major chokepoint, since lots of clients would communicate through it instead of talking directly to each other. IAX would be much better choice here.
You see, I install and maintain commercial VoIP (SIP, IAX) solutions for a living, but when it comes to advising other people on how to talk via Internet with their technologically challenged relatives, I always tell them to use Skype. It "just works", no matter how fucked up their net connection is.
Now, one could devise a similar P2P system, based on some open protocol like IAX (with the way SIP works it would be rather impossible), that would immitate inner workings of Skype. If it materialises, let me know.
They hope to corner the market, and if they succeed in that aim, their services will not remain free.
They already have a legitimate, sustainable income source. The moment they started charging for "basic" services, bundling spyware etc, people would stop using it. I know I would.
Robert
Transitions... (Score:2, Insightful)
Also, a lot of WiFi hotspots charge for access (e.g. Starbucks). Obviously those are out, limiting usefulness.
Also, forgive my ignorance on Skype or other VoIP protocols, but how do they handle the occasional dropped packet or connection interruption? Having used WiFi in a Panera bread (where it's free) on several occasions, it seems that there's a lot of load on a pretty limited amount of bandwidth, meaning occasional connection hangs while I'm msurfing the web. NOT what you want during a phone call...
And, yes, I realize "Free WiMax everywhere!" could help with these issues, but I'm skeptical of that happening anytime in the near future (read: before this phone becomes an obsolete model).