In article <4318f278$0$32690$da0feed9@news.zen.co.uk>,
abuse@dopiaza.cabal.org.uk says...
> AD C <graphi47uk@y.a.h.o.o.co.uk> wrote:
> [...]
> > Satellite hyas too much of a delay and most of the time it is only
> > one way, so you still need a phone line to transmitt the data.
>
> Only if the satellite is in geostationary orbit. Iridium uses a large
> number of near-earth satellites some 450 miles above the Earth. The
> back of a fagpacket calculation suggests that this contributes a delay
> of just 4ms.

About price? I know someone who have satellite broadband and it costs a
fortune, they are getting rid of it soon, because Bt have now decided
that they will put ADSL into the village.

> [...]
> My main objection to Skype is that it *does* require hardware - a PC.
> Leaving that running 24/7 so you can receive calls will cost you 60
> quid a year or so just in electricity. So much for it being free.

My computer is on 24/7 and it don't cost me £60 a year, in fact I got 2
computers on 24/7 and it don't cost me £60 a year.

But I do know what you mean about needing a computer, but most people
who use Skype, do not use it as their main phone.
I use the audio part on MSN messenger to chat with people in other
countries, but only because it is free. which you will find out is what
most people use Skype for, I doubt very much if many people use Skype
out.


>
> My SPA-2000 doesn't use anything like that much juice, allows me to
> leave my desk (with the handy addition of a cheap DECT phone) and
> isn't a magnet for every worm and virus out there.

But not everyone wants to go to that trouble just to have cheaper calls
to other countries, which is what people will use Skype for most of the
time. TBH, I have been looking at some of the call costs on these VOIP
services and most of them are more expensive than what my landline phone
is. Apart from maybe Vonage, because you pay a fixed cost, but that
would not pay people who uses a BT line.


>
> I do have a Skype account, but find that call quality isn't very good,
> because people are using lash-ups of PC speakers and cheap
> omnidirectional mics instadl of properly-designed telephone handsets.

Sometimes the cheaper Mics are better for thisa sort of thing, than one
you pay a lot of money for. I have got a panasonic microphone, which
cost me nearly £100 last year, which I use for the video camera, I tried
that on MSN once and it was awful, I stuck in my old Trust Microphone,
which is about 7 years old and cost me a tenner and it works great. I
always use head phones. I am thinking about getting a USB
microphone/headset, they are suppose to be pretty good, for things like
that, and voice recognition.

The cheap trust mic also works ok in the camera, but it souls a bit
hollow, due to it being cheap plastic I suppose.

But I do understand where you are coming from, a mate of mine has a
cheap microphone which is naff, very quiet and really horrid sound.

We play quake 3 only the net and we put MSN on in the back ground, so we
can talk to each other, I works well.
Well it did work well, he is changing his ISP, so is only on dial up at
the moment, so the games are off, until next week.


> What usually seems to happen is that initial contact will be made over
> Skype, and then the call switched to PSTN when the drop-outs or echo
> get too irritating.

I talk to my cousin in the states using Skype, no dropout at all. In
fact sometimes it is clearer than my normal phone. MSN is better mind
you and we do use MSN more than Skype.

>
> [...]

> > Only minority of the public will bother with VOIP.
>
> The usual test as to whether technology has gone mainstream is when my
> mostly computer-ignorant 60 year old mother starts asking me about it.
> She doesn't have a computer or broadband, but it seems that quite a
> few relatives are now using VoIP-to-PSTN gateways to call her from all
> over the world.

People ask me about it, but since everyone here is on a BT line, they
decide that it is not worth it, since they would not be gaining. which
is going to be the problem.

I do know two people who are thinking about it.
One of them because she is at uni and they broadband and it would be
cheap to call her parents and friends, instead of using the mobile.

The other person is looking at it for a separate fax line, if that can
be done. He was using ISdn until a few weeks back, but have now gone
back a single line as he have had ADSL installed, so have lost a line.


>
> That it doesn't sound naff suggests that it's something other than
> Skype :)
>
But Skype is not really the same thing.

I like the idea of VOIP, but costs is what put me off. If I did not have
the BT line, then I would use VOIP, the only thing that worries me is
reliability, since the internet is not 100%, come to think of it, the
Internet is not even 60%. But things are getting better.


I also thing the heavens are going to open up, because it have gone
really dark here. OH well, I did not really want to cut those trees down
today anyway.