"Todd Allcock" <elecconnec@AmericaOnLine.com> wrote in
news:jgBzj.8432$hg4.4935@fe107.usenetserver.com:

> Skype still hasn't figured out how to make money at VoIP despite
> giving away the farm. I don't know how true it is, but the last
> figure I read on line was that they haven't averaged a nickel per user
> per month yet. Puts that cellphone $50 ARPU in perspective!
>

I don't think Ebay bought Skype with telephone company in mind. Ebay's
core business is TRADING and Skype is a way to get EBAY SELLERS talking to
EBAY BUYERS, no matter where they are on the planet.

Do you see a plan coming together where Skype is a good thing for Ebay?

If they jack it up, people will just not use it. The VoIP market is
flooded, if you consider the ones you have to be a hacker to use. Anyone
can use Skype, like AOL, which is the whole idea. Skype-to-Skype, with
video is a no-cost, direct connection, once Skype has the current IP of the
guy you're calling.

I don't know that much about "standard" VoIP connections. I assume they
all must go through some kind of central server, right? Those servers must
be massive and expensive to maintain.

One note that might explain why it's so cheap. My Charleston inbound Skype
number is in a block of numbers used for dialup modem service, like AOL and
many others. It never gets spammed from the boiler rooms because of it.
They all think my number is just another modem. Skype has got to rent
these numbers from someone who runs the block for really cheap to even
break even. Is that how your VoIP provider works, too?