eBay to buy Skype?

cam0940 says on Sep 15, 2005, 08:22:

I'm using Vonage right now for 11 cents a minute to Colombian cell phones. Brilliant technology.

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viewpoint says on Sep 15, 2005, 08:59:

Panama ClaroCom Claro Line http://www.ClaroCom.com of Panama is now selling VOIP telephone service in which the lines are assigned local Panama City telephone numbers. With this service I have local Panama City phone service in Colombia and the Caribbean where I have installed the ATA adapters.

For about $10.00 per month I get 150 minutes free and 1.8 cents per minute therafter.

Here's the link http://www.clarocom.com/products.aspx?id=28

Skype is competing with thousands of other providers that offer a simular service. This technology has been around for years developed by college students but during the last three years the equipment and call quality has improved to the point that usage is becoming more accepted and deployed at a rapid rate in business and personal use. The greatest usage comes from long distance providers that use VOIP at some point to deliver LD calls to their destination.

I think the purchase of Skype by Ebay will go down in history as a big mistake much like Time Warner's purchase of AOL. The only revenue to be realized in their business model is that of delivering the "off net" telephone calls as the IP calls are delivered free through the internet.

The WiFi IP phone has been around for about 2 years but not widely used. Personally I use a USB port IP phone (supplied by www.iphonecenter.net) plugged into my laptop from any wireless, ethernet or dialup connection.

There are other generations of WiFi technology such as MaxWiFi that use 802.16 and 802.20 frequencies that are capable of further transmission distances. 802.20 can transit 25 miles or 50 line of sight. This could make a WiFi hot spot "HUGE" (could blanket a small city) and the phones more practical much like cell phones. These frequencies are "free" public use frequencies so you can see the potential financial impact to the cellular service providers if this type of service advances. A few countries in Europe are testing this technology and the phones for these new frequencies are already manufactured, tested and in use. http://www.wimaxworld.com/

With call bridging equipment your cell phone anywhere can access VOIP. I have used incoming VOIP to access dial tone in Colombia to make local calls (within Colombia) but it was never 100% dependable, however, when used for outgoing calls it works just fine.

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miamimike says on Sep 15, 2005, 12:36:

Correction-eBay bought Skype for like $2.6 Billion. It is done deal.I don't use them anyhow-yet. I use prepaid calling cards and for $5 I receive like 4 hours 15 minutes here in Miami. No connection fee either.No dropped/disconnected calls, always clear-no echoes! Hard to beat the price!.

On Sept 17, 2008: Senator John McCain said, as he had many times before, that he believed the fundamentals of the economy were "strong."Hours later he backpedaled, explaining that he had meant that American workers were Strong.

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viewpoint says on Sep 15, 2005, 12:41:

I have VOIP for IP to IP calls from outside Colombia to Colombia but for off net calls from outside Colombia to inside Colombia I use the prepaid calling cards. Making calls from inside Colombia to outside Colombia nothing beat VOIP long distance.

Some day virtual phone numbers for Colombia will be available through VOIP service providers. http://www.voxbone.com/coverage.jsf

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flaleo says on Sep 16, 2005, 06:56:

VOIP isn't cheaper than the calling cards (in Miami) - I use the combination when overseas. For example, from UK or Portugal or Thailand I use my Vonage softphone to access a free ($10/month) dial tone in Miami and then use the calling card for the long distance to Colombia (about 1/2 what Vonage would charge for land or cell in Colombia).

I was so bullish on eBay (and Paypal) as investments until this purchase. They are basically buying a revenue model that is going nowhere but to $0 - phone calls local or international are soon becoming close to $0 in cost. Only an idiot wants to be a phone company.

OK, maybe they are buying a subscriber base to cross-sell to... and some technology... and some limited subscriber revenues... at best worth maybe $1B but not $2.6.

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viewpoint says on Sep 16, 2005, 07:08:

Flaleo VOIP only becomes cheaper when calling from IP phone to IP phone on the same service provider's network as it's usually for free. In certain cases VOIP long distance calls are cheaper than calling cards but usually only to major cities that large amounts of telephone traffic flow to.

You are correct about the telephone business as we will all be speaking to each other world wide for a flat monthly fee of $10-$30 per month. In some parts of the more populated "western" world we are there already.

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viewpoint says on Sep 16, 2005, 09:48:

Editor's Note: WiMAX Levels Playing Field, eBay shells out for VoIP
In this age of tighter-than-tight IT budgets and blood-from-a-stone expectations you may think that investing in hot technologies such as VoIP and WiMAX ranks up there with plotting out where you want your beach house to go after you win the lottery. In reality, not investigating these technologies is actually the more unrealistic daydream approach. Check out our illuminating piece (link below) on how WiMAX is helping to level the playing field for small and medium-sized businesses who find themselves too big for DSL but not big enough for a dedicated T1 line.

Meanwhile, the movers and shakers in the VoIP market stop for no one and you may not be able to tell the players apart without our handy daily scorecard. Just this week eBay, as we predicted, shelled out $2.6 billion for Internet-telephony company Skype while Google and Microsoft both increased their presence in this area with acquisitions and launches of their own.

The good news for you is that it gets easier every day to implement and integrate VoIP into your existing architecture and you don't have to spend quite as much as eBay did to get the job done. As with most new technologies, the key to getting started is to know as much as possible about what works and what doesn't and what's most likely to provide the kind of ROI that impresses the people looking over your shoulder.

All of this is why attendance at our upcoming IP.4.IT conference in Las Vegas November 14-16 is practically mandatory for anyone who wants to stay abreast and maintain a competitive advantage. Over the course of three days we'll be breaking down all the issues surrounding IP implementation, security, cost and support. and we'll let you know how to take VoIP, wireless technologies and even good old instant messaging to the next level.

We'll look forward to seeing you in Las Vegas come November and, of course, we'll be right back here in your e-mail box next week with the kind of news you can't afford to be without.

Rob Preston
Network Computing

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Mr. Hollywood says on Sep 16, 2005, 10:11:

I don't see it Man, I just don't see the value in eBay buying Skype, either, and I'm totally bullish on VOIP in general.

Then again, eBay has made a lot of millionaires and billionaires, and I'm still a working stiff, so maybe they know something I don't.

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miamimike says on Sep 16, 2005, 11:29:

Bullish on eBay.....Well some aren't... I have belonged to eBay since early '99 when some of us buyers and sellers used to know each other by first name. Beleive it or not! eBay has drastically changed now--we now have many non paying deadbeat bidders, misrepresented sales items ect. Many ae looking to eBay alternatives due to rising prices for no apparent reason other then Meg Whitman(CEO) and crowd could raise eBay prices.And did! As evidence,I cite the price of maintaining an eBay store-Meg arbitrarily raised the price from $9.95 monthly to $15.95/mo.Her costs to maintain the store were not rising-she was hungary for more profit, as if eBay does not make enough as it is. Same for other small fees-reserve auctions, length of auctions ect. Many new small charges now where a few years back, none existed. They need to be careful-its a great concept, eBay,but as we know in the past, other golden Geese&Eggs were killed when the owners got to greedy.

On Sept 17, 2008: Senator John McCain said, as he had many times before, that he believed the fundamentals of the economy were "strong."Hours later he backpedaled, explaining that he had meant that American workers were Strong.

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Rubiazo says on Sep 16, 2005, 11:53:

The problem with Skype right now it only works with PayPal or some Euro money thing.
I have LOTS of Colombians wanting to get into calling out with Skype who can't because the compny's merchant accounts are all screwed up!! They could make a KILLING in places like Colombia because people can call locally on the system cheaper than they could with a local telephone, in some cases many times cheaper. Instead they can only use computer to computer, which Skype makes no money from. They could literally put local phone companies out of business if they wanted to practically, but for that one thing!

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flaleo says on Sep 16, 2005, 16:49:

View, good discussion... but can you provide an example of where a VOIP call to a land line (forget computer to computer, that's not mainstream yet) is cheaper than calling card? I call Miami to London, on my Vonage it's cheap (like 2.9 cents I think) but w/ a calling card it's under one cent (no connections, no maintenance, etc.).

Being bullish on eBay is about making money of the stock. If they raise their prices and still do well, then good, they make more money (bad for the users/seller, but good for the investors).

I'm hugely bullish on VOIP as a technology, especially over WIMAX, but none of the providers make for good investments IMO.

BTW, I use VOIP at home and on my laptop from all over the world.

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Lumpy says on Sep 16, 2005, 19:02:

An Example for Flaleo Hey FLaleo! = ) I can give you an example! I'm a contractor working in Iraq and I call my Carina in Cali, Colombia daily. I used to use calling cards but, it was KILLING me. The connection fees, poor sound quality and dropped calls was frustrating... not to mention extremely expensive. Using Skype is the best thing since sliced bread for somebody in MY situation. I probably wouldn't use it for intra-US calls but for people that don't have access to their own home phones (or pay phones) it is a viable means of cost-effective communication. Oh, and calling Colombia from Iraq (cell to cell) is so expensive... the thought of it brings tears to my eyes!

Just my three cents (inflation)
Nathan

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poco says on Sep 16, 2005, 19:42:

Why ?? To prevent another "paypal" senario. eBay would NOT like connection fees showing up in their adds. Time was probably the primary reason.

VOIP will just be another browser feature, probably given away free with the next Explorer.

Where I am not many have internet at the house. I do see the "cafe" vendors having the setup in the future,, if not now in places like South Korea.

"When you men get home and face an anti-war protester, look him in the eyes and shake his hand. Then, wink at his girlfriend, because she knows she's dating a pussy." Quote - General Tommy Franks

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viewpoint says on Sep 17, 2005, 04:39:

Flaleo Good point regarding competitiveness of VOIP vs. calling cards for terminating off network long distance calls.

As a general rule probably only within calling platforms of unlimited plans do they compete for outgoing calls. However by adding virtual numbers in other countries you may make your calls for free (other than the cost of the virtual number).

I will give you an example of VOIP calls that are cheaper (free) than calling cards. A person in an office or home in Colombia wants to talk to someone in most any major population center in the USA (we will use Miami for this example). They use one of three providers and a USB port IP phone or ATA phone adapter and conventional phone connected through broadband, DSL, ADSL or even dialup internet connections. They dial your phone number in Miami and ask you to call them back giving you the dialing instructions for a local access phone number for Miami gateway which you dial and then dial their 7 digit IP phone number in Colombia which rings on their end.

That entire call is free for as many hours as you want to talk. There is no charge to either person as all incoming calls are free to the party in Colombia and you pay no charge because you are calling a local number for access (no charge). The only charge to this entire call was 2 to 2.5 cents on the initial telephone call asking you to call back. Go to these websites and you will find the local access numbers (MamaKall.com and Meritcall.com have the most up-to-date lists of local access numbers.

By calling the local access number (with your standard PSTN phone or even cell phone) you have accessed a gateway making the call the same as IP phone to IP phone from the gateway to the Colombian located IP phone. There are three service providers that provider that service. All IP calls between their systems are free and they share the same local access numbers and they charge no monthly fee.

American technology at its best ? NOT !! It's a Chinese company providing this service through a large gateway and servers they have installed in Los Angles, California.

http://www.mamakall.com
http://www.meritcall.com
http://www.iphonecenter.net

Another poster had mentioned South Korea which is one of the most advanced cultures in "high speed" internet penatration in the world having almost 70% of households with broadband or DSL connections many at "high" speeds not even available to residential subscribers in the USA. The USA is lagging many countries in residential users (as a percent of total population) but it is gaining a little on these more advanced countries. At one time a few years ago the USA had only 27% penatration while South Korea had over 65% penatration. Higher penatration of high speed internet connections in Korea was possible party because of demographics (large population in citys primarily multi-residential).

As China continues its infastructure buildout (state-of-the-art) of telecommunications with fiber-optic while most of the USA is wired in a century old technology.

POCO is right in that VOIP will just be part of the next generation deployment of the AOL, YAHOO, GOOGLE & MS EXPLORER providers. It's already been there for years in its primitive forms but it will get more refined and developed in the coming months and years competing with the "vonages" of VOIP. Yahoo messenger Beta version 7 has VOIP calling built in and promises more improvements. Yahoo has tried several other versions including net2phone in prior years.

http://messenger.yahoo.com/

Soon VOIP will simply be a commodity like the internet and free except call termination services (well it's already here and called SKYPE).

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CaryGrant says on Sep 17, 2005, 10:48:

There is money to be made in Skype - though $2.6B? Anyway, people will still buy phone numbers - I have an LA number, for example, though I live in Canada, and Skype charges for voicemail. People will still make off-net calls, and I'm sure Skype will soon offer other services, like fax, for a fee.

I have tried using Skype to call out of Colombia to the US, and from Canada to Colombia. I would say that until Colombia improves its internet infrastructure, VOIP will lag. Typical Cali dialup is nominally 56K, in reality maybe 9K. It starts and stops transmission repeatedly, making real-time voice calls impossible. Calling from Canada via Skype to a landline is better, but no guarantee of a clear connection.

And I agree about the eBay sentiments; there are too many scam artists on eBay now, and far too many others who just don't care. They slightly misrepresent what they sell, the buyer is afraid to provide negative feedback because it will look bad on the buyer, so the system continues - for now. I will no longer buy anything from eBay.

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Rubiazo says on Sep 17, 2005, 10:51:

It works just great from Bogotá I have very few problems dialing out here. Cali must be world behind Bogotá, because I have been using Skype every day here.

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flaleo says on Sep 17, 2005, 12:36:

Specific example OK, for Nathan and others, here's the example I'm referring to:

You are outside of Colombia (or any other specific country), and you want to call into that specific country... but not the U.S. (obviously it's cheapest to call into U.S. using only VOIP).

So, for example, you are in Iraq or UK or Germany or Thailand, and you want to call Colombia. Option 1, just dial away (011-57....) on your VOIP. Option 2, dail a U.S. calling card (e.g. 305.675.1018... then PIN) and call Colombia.

To my knowledge there exists no VOIP SIP that has a lower per minute rate than the best calling cards. I'm talking the calling cards with high quality and no connection fees and no hidden charges and NO FEES (get it?). There are a few of these... maybe STS, for sure SUPER CLEAN MEGA STABLE or something like that, for this week, until they game the rates or whatever.

The good calling cards are about 4cents to CLO and under 6cents to MDE and about 9cents for cellulars. NO FEES.

I'd love to learn of any SIP that has these int'l rates beat by dialing direct (from any internet connect in the world).

NOTE, computer to computer isn't applicable. I'm asking for a "phone" example.

:)

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CaryGrant says on Sep 17, 2005, 12:52:

Skype from anywhere to Colombia: USD 5.1c/minute. So yes, calling card is less expensive. Of course, calling through a computer ignores the monthly ISP fee, just as calling through a home landline ignores the monthly local phone charge.

Calling through your computer ties up your computer. Using your phone ties up your landline. Other landline disadvantages: Others can pick up the extension and listen it; you can be wire-tapped.

Ultimately, it seems to come down to what works for the individual. Some people will purchase the cheapest phone card available, for example, while others will pay a bit more and get better connections.

Rubi - must be. I tried from two different Cali lines, and talked to some folks about the slow and intermittent connections. It's made me nervous about signing up for ADSL.

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viewpoint says on Sep 17, 2005, 13:04:

Well in the absense of not allowing calls to terminate on an IP phone within Colombia I have to admit that I don't know of a solution cheaper than "some" (not all) calling cards for calls to Colombia.

If there were virtual phone numbers within Colombia available that would be a different situation. With call bridging equipment you can call a specific city (where the equipment is installed) for just the cost of the incoming VOIP call. I installed it in Medellin and I could call a VOIP number in New Jersey which was answered by a call bridging device in Medellin after which you key in the security code and access the public service telephone network (dialtone) in Medellin and make your local call. It worked but I was not technically astute enough to work all the bugs out of the system. At the same time I hooked up the same system working in reverse allowing any phone to dial a Medellin phone number accessing VOIP USA dialtone to make a free call. It takes line amplifers to amplify in incoming or outcoming voice which worked fine for me with outgoing long distance calls from Colombia but I had trouble configuring them for the incoming calls vs. the local PSTN in Medellin.

I use www.uniontelecard.com for their prepaid cards and get good results. I only use pinless cards as it would drive me crazy to have to insert a pin number for each call or series of calls.

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flaleo says on Sep 17, 2005, 13:09:

Listen.

I'm talking about using your VOIP phone, Vonage for example, but not a landline!, from anywhere in the world you have an internet connection, to call for example Colombia. From your VOIP, dial the US calling card access number or dial direct. I have yet to find a dial direct that is cheaper than calling card.

I'm still talking about using VOIP and a SIP, not a land line, and be it WIMAX or LAN or T1 or cybercafe.

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CaryGrant says on Sep 17, 2005, 13:55:

Another advantage to VOIP is that you can receive calls (and voicemail, for a fee).

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viewpoint says on Sep 17, 2005, 14:21:

Lingo & Packet 8 http://www.packet8.net/about/intplans.asp

http://www.makeinternationalphonecall.com/international_phone_rate/

These two companies have been expanding their unlimited footprint and some day they (or another VOIP service provider) will include Colombia with its 40 million people.

I talk to Medellin several times daily but never pay a penny for long distance other than my VOIP plan but I route all the communication to flow from Medellin to me which is free as I am within the calling platform of my unlimited minutes plan.

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