Posts Tagged ‘Internet’

Do You Save money By “Skyping”?

September 2nd, 2010

Cisco makes offer for Skype
I’ve been ‘Skyping’ for years. It began when my eldest son left home to seek his fortune and we were desperate to keep in touch with him but had a hard time paying for the long distance calls as he drifted around Asia and finally came to a stop in Australia. One day I was complaining about our phone account in the office when someone told me about Skype. We made aVOIP connection to my son late that night while he was sitting in an Internet café in Sydney the following morning.

Confirmed ‘Skypers’
From that day we have been confirmed ‘Skypers’. Today I am a work-at-homer but in constant touch with my head office on Skype. In all the years I have been using Skype the number of dropped or poor quality calls has been negligible, no higher than the regular phone service.

History
Skype was founded in 2003 by the Swedish entrepreneur Niklas Zennström and the Dane Janus Friis. The software was developed by Estonian developers Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu and Jaan Tallinn, the same individuals who together with Niklas and Janus were originally behind the peer-to-peer file sharing software Kazaa. In April 2003, Skype.com and Skype.net domain names were registered. In August 2003, the first public beta version was released.

VOIP
Skype is a Voice Over Internet Protocol which allows users to have online phone, video and text conversations over the internet. Skype bypasses the standard telephone network by channeling voice and video calls over the Internet. It allows users to call others free of charge and to connect with land lines or mobile devices at low rates. In December 2005 video-telephony was introduced, meaning you could attach a camera and see who you are talking to. They can also see you…

Owned by…
eBay acquired Skype Limited in September 2005 and in the fall of 2009 sold a majority stake to an investor group. Late last year online auction giant eBay sold a majority stake in Skype for some $2-billion to a group of investors that included the two founders of the company. The deal valued Skype at $2.75-billion.

Users
In April 2006, the number of registered users reached 100 million. In 2010, a report by TeleGeography Research stated that Skype-to-Skype calls accounted for 13% of all international call minutes in 2009. Out of the 406 billion international call minutes, a total of 54 billion were Skype calls.

Latest bid
The technology blog TechCrunch said on Monday that US networking giant Cisco has made an offer to acquire Internet communications firm Skype. TechCrunch, citing what it described as “one of our more reliable sources”, said the San Jose, California-based Cisco is seeking to acquire Skype before the Internet telephony company makes an initial public offering or IPO. “Skype insiders are hoping for an out of the gate valuation of five billion dollars, we’ve heard,” TechCrunch said. “Presumably Cisco would have to be bidding in that range to make it interesting.”

Small start, big money

Tags: Internet, Phone accounts, Phone calls, Skype, VOIP
Posted in Finance, Money, Personal / Internet | No Comments »

Psst! How Much Is Your Phone Bill This Month?

July 28th, 2010

How did my communications bill get so big?

I passed the $400 last month. I am stunned. In my wildest dreams and in my most outrageous household budgets I never allowed a figure like this. It covers my wife, two teenagers and me. Okay, I understand that it includes the phone, cell-phones, internet and TV, a lot of services all bundled with one company, which was guaranteed to save me up to 15% a month. But $400? For the same monthly payment, I could walk off the lot with a 2010 Toyota Corolla with no money down based on four years of financing.

Too easy

It all looks so easy and it’s so convenient. We can track our children 24 hours a day. We can work from wherever we are. We can stay in touch and be informed instantly about anything we want to know.

I’ll pay

I’ll end up paying with a rather forced smile. This communications account allows me to stay home and work from time to time, so I can’t complain about that. In addition all four of us in the house are downloading information of some sort all the time. The cell-phones are a godsend and none of would think of going out without their cell-phone.

Remember when

I remember that back in 1990, before the age of the Internet, I was spending about $60 or $70 a month on phone and TV. That’s the figure I always remember. Now we’re up to $400 a month. Some increase!

Necessity

We live in the communications age. There is a new device, a new chip, a new service every day. Speed goes up and the costs go down, everything except the bill. Says a communications consultant: “You would have that thought with unemployment rising and people working fewer hours and nobody getting a raise that one of things people would have cut would have been their value-added phone services, Internet services and cable. It turns out not to be the case. Look at the phone companies’ numbers, and how the number of wireless users is going up. Communications has become a necessity.”

Must have and must pay

It follows that if our telecommunications products mean so much to us, we are willing to pay for them. “It’s not just entertainment, it’s all kinds of things, it’s a source of music, a source of social connection, a source of information, a source of mapping. There are just so many potential uses.” One of things we learned during the last recession is that telecommunications services are untouchable.

Drop the land-line

Reports suggest that many people are ditching their home phones. That is a growing trend that is going to continue among younger people. Those people have found a way to cut their costs. If you have a cell phone you are always available and you need a landline in addition. And if the company is paying for the cell phone…? Now, what else can you cut?

Tags: Bills, Cell phones, Communications, Internet, Phones, TV
Posted in Economy, Finance | No Comments »

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