iain <spamtrap@hairydog.co.uk> wrote in
news:mkva655q3ui6fjdt0hecjnaf9q6jo275jn@4ax.com:

>>It would be simpler to buy a 39.99 Skype S2 PAYG from Three,
>>pop into any Three shop or buy online.
>
> Simpler, yes, but also 39.99 more expensive.
>
> Ony useful if you phone people on skype.

I bought two S1 Skypephones from 3 on contract to "take advantage" of the
free Skype calls. I have an Asterisk system and my plan was to purchase
an Asterisk to Skype gateway and include my mobile in the main ring
group. Effectively, that should have given me call diversion of my home
phones to my mobile at zero cost.

However, I found that Skype on 3 is not ready for the big time. Skype
converage is intermittent and only seems available in 3G areas. Even in
3G areas, the Skype login periodically disconnects and the latency can be
horrific (much worse than "normal" - i.e. computer-to-computer - Skype
calls). Thus we found the service too unreliable even to make Skype calls
from home to the mobile and vice versa. Also, the S1 phones locked up at
random and the only way to reset them was to take the back off and pull
the battery. Three replaced one for a basic Nokia but insisted the other
was fine provided I followed their recommendation to completely power
down and reboot the phone once per day and refused to replace that

We're now waiting for our contract to expire in a few months so that we
can go back to O2!

Geoff