He lives in the United States. His fiancée is in Great Britain. He uses voice-over-IP (VoIP) phone service Skype to keep romance alive and phone bills low.
But there's trouble in paradise. The suitor says his cut-rate phone provider suddenly left him in the lurch, thanks to a billing glitch that's prevented him from using his account.
"I am sure they will straighten things out in a day or two, but if not, I will simply notify my credit card company to reverse the charge," he wrote in an email to ZDNet UK sister site CNET News.com, requesting anonymity.
Among a crowded field of Internet phone providers, Skype has turned heads with its unique blend of technology, grassroots marketing and rapid adoption. In the 18 months since Skype launched its product, the company claims 74 million downloads. The company is currently signing up about 60,000 new registered users every day -- numbers that draw comparisons to free software downloads that swept the Internet during the late 1990s, such as the ICQ instant messaging service.
But the honeymoon may be coming to an end for the upstart phone provider as it branches out of its core free service into new paid offerings.
In recent weeks, there's been a spike in complaints about the company's first commercial service -- SkypeOut -- that lets customers cheaply make calls off the Internet to ordinary phone lines. Aside from having to wait days for accounts to be credited -- as the anonymous suitor and dozens of other customers have complained -- many SkypeOut users say their conversations are disrupted by a two-second delay between someone speaking and being able to hear what was said.
"It makes communication impossible," one unsatisfied customer said. Others complain that some calls aren't going through at all, and if they do, you can't hear the other person on the line, though they can hear you. For a few days last week, some people couldn't call US phone numbers.
Skype spokeswoman Kat James acknowledges problems but says the customer numbers tell the bigger story.
"Skype constantly monitors call performance across the global network of users and seeks to enhance quality through continuous product development," James said. "As our growth indicates, we have a huge number of satisfied customers."
Talkback
I think that Skype out is absolutely great. I was using another companies softphone and this is better. The people who complain are cry babies. I talked to my daughter in the UK and it only cost me $1.50 for over
an hours worth of talk. I certainly can't demand or expect 100% at those rates. The first thing one should do if they have a problem is restart their computer. Is that too much of a problem? As for money being lost, it is a joke. Buying $15.00 at a time and getting irate is stupid. If they need near perfect results the answer is
simple pay for it with a bell company.
I use Skype to Conference call with a my study group. I also use SkypeOut to make limited calls in the US. I personally have never had problems. SkypeOut quality is fair however I did not expect anything but fair. The technology is still in it's infancy.
I regularly use the Skype VOIP, and have a paid for subscription giving calls to landlines and mobiles throughout Europe. I have had no problems on either free or paid for calls, and the paidfor are at the cheapest rate I have ever encountoured. Skype is a breakthrough for me. I would suggest that there are many interested parties who would be only too pleased to see Skype fail, and who would publicise any problems Skype may have. To date, I have had no problems whatsoever. It's a real treat to call a mobile number in Spain for Eurocents a minute.
I have been using Skype for quite a while and started to use landline calls to Europe, USA, Latin America, Middle East, Africa and Asia right from the first day the service was available. I am also a Voice Mail Box user. While there are some problems with the stability of the internet, I can't follow the complaints about credits, calls etc.
I am looking forward to Skype's Landline to IP and to its textmessaging service. As I prefer Eric B over Bill G. I am hoping even more for a killer device from Palm: a W/LAN PDA with Skype and automatic Skype name dialing.
Klaas Brumann
PS. While my company offers its end users software to order photographic paper prints straight from some SymbianOS phones, I do not claim to be an expert on the mobile phone industry: http://www.fotoinsight.co.uk - digital photo processing online, posters, calendars, gift items with your photo.
Skype long distance better than landline!!
My children (8 and 11 years old, Cambridge, UK) often talk to their grand parents in Mexico by Skype. These young, demanding and impartial (they don't have to pay the phone bills) consumers consider the voice quality of Skype superior to landline services!
Klaas Brumann
http://www.fotoinsight.co.uk
I bought Skype-out and it was active before I even closed the browser window.
There is a slight delay on the call - the person on the other end of the line grumbles that it's "a bit stilted". But it's perfectly tolerable, especially bearing in mind it's only 1.2 pence per minute for an international call.
All in all it's very good. Why all the fuss and complaints?
I am delighted with Skype. The ability to talk free using VOIP is great as I have a number of international contacts.
The Skypeout facility is a nice add-on, and one that has worked fine for me 98% of the time. However, being based in the UK I use 18866 (http://www.call18866.com) for even better landline rates within the UK than Skype currently offers.
But back to Skypeout: considering the rip-off prices charged by the main landline providers, the odd call using Skype, at a fraction of the normal cost that goes awry (it does happen - most notably when the USA wakes up), is no big deal. Just revert to paying through the nose instead by using Alexander Graham Bell's original device.
The moaners should get real. What Skype has accomplished with a handful of employees should be applauded, not pilloried.
Subscribing was no problem. Took about 2 minutes. Occasionalyy there is a delay/echo not dissimilar to calls via satellites. I am looking forward to the time when I can be called (other than the Skype which is already there)
I have used Skype-out regularly to call land lines in USA and Canada and have no problems with call quality.
I have used Skype since last October.
My experience has been very good up until the last week. There have been issues with Skype to Skype calls. One end can't hear the other, etc, and the quality in recent days phoning overseas landlines has not been great.
Prior to this I had little to complain about. I see this as growing pains
Skype works for me
SkpeOut works for me
SkypeIn is eagerly awaited
I use Skypout for international calls with a 56K dialup connection..if only my ISP delivered like the Skype software. No probs with billing either.
signed up for skypeout credit in 30 seconds and seems to work fine with 56k modem @ 48kbps connection speed
I v been using Skype for several months and began to use SkypeOut three weeks ago to make calls to Indonesia (mobile and landline) from UK. The quality is good and the voice is clear. It is not perfect and sometimes, but rarely, the voice intermittently fades out.
I think it is fair for the price, and has better quality than many phone cards available in shops.
SkypeOut is tremendous value for money. In terms of ease of installation, quality and reliability of service it is far better than any other internet telephone service I have used.
No problems here.
My current experience of Skype is very satisfactory, I can call musicians continent to continent and play "live" music to then and exchange musical ideas online - realtime - have not managed to "rehearse" online bacause of latency which isn´t too bad but enough to disturb. Skype transmission is faster than conventional telephone lines.
The conference function is great for contacting my relations in UK only my sister has a cable TV internet connection and is very noisy.
One question. What is the data transfer speed of Skype?
Kind regards
Pete Sage
I'm using Skype and Skype out with no problems at all.
How many of these 'complaints' come from sources that could be tracked down to belonging to the big telecomms companies who are nervous of Skype's success?
SKYPE OVERCHARGEs for 0845 and 0870 numbers. These turn out to be what they call 'shared costs'. They charge you mobile rates to dial them which is rediculous.
You have been watching tooo much of the skype’s "Sharing is good" movies, which suppose to brain wash user, and they succeeded! p2p in my opinion has nothing to do with sharing my resources and broadband. p2p allows to peers on network to communicate directly, no sharing with others. Tell me, you pay for your house and then share it with others? Stop watching those Skype movies. WAVIGO rules! PEOPLE WAKE UP!!! Skype is using your computer to make $ Read the licensing agreement - all users have to agree before using the program. Part 4: Permission to Utilize, you are giving them permission to use your computer and bandwidth. This is such an example of mass pasychology…just follow the crowd. There is better program I have found , it is free and it is gentle on your computer. It is called WAVIGO!
I will just paste a message I have sent them at least 40 times. they simply would not help me, you Dear Sir/madam,[Please read carefully, do not send automatic answer]
I created the profile Santeuil2064, I credited my account and started talking, when I wanted to top my account up, it said that my account was no verified. I tried to use the verification you sent me but it would not work, I send an email you said you would send a verifcation. Nothing happened.
I created a new account, this one, I tried to pay, it would reject me and however, because I had already set up the previous account. Icannot access the previous one however because you have not sent me a password yet, though you promised. I send several emails, I only god automatic replies by a guy called Andres, which showed that he did not care to read my request, he just downloaded something automatic. I have not given up contacting you and trying to make you shut my previous profile down or make me do it, so that I can use skype. Meanwhile I try to find other firms who offer the same service you do, but are more in need of customers.
best regards (for the 40st time)
Neo
skype was good in the past. It's become unreliable. Calls drop unexpedly or can't be made for hours at the time. There's no "system status" info on their website, so the user is left frustrated as to why things aren't working. VOIP Buster is a superior program for making calls from PC to landline. Skype is just too unreliable. I'm a paid user but don't know if I'll pay again.
How do I register for use of Skype
I have been using the system for about 9 months and am very pleased with the quality of sound etc. I recently subscribed to SkypeOut and find it easy to use and have had no complaints No drop offs etc. Just what are people complaing about? Landlines are just as liable to misroute as Skype. I wil continue using it.
Kat James, Skype’s spokeswoman is probably quite right that they have a have a huge number of satisfied customers. Until about five hours ago I was one of them until I made a paid for £20 sterling SkypeOut credit earlier today.
Nothing on their system warned me that there was a problem with the extended time that its taking them to deliver the credit to the user, and that I might have a pretty long wait. I only became aware of this via the internet.
I am still optimistic that the credit will come through, as until today I’ve had no problems with Skype. However, my spend on Skype stops now until I see evidence that they are back up to speed with allocating credit, no matter how long that takes them.
My comment to Kat James is, that, a huge number of satisfied customers can very rapidly become a huge number of dissatisfied customers, or lost customers – if you don’t keep them informed upfront.
No I did not. I signed up for skppe because the info I read said I could talk long distanct to London for 2 cents a minute. I got charged 25
cents a minute instead. It's frustrating that I can't talk to anyone about because they only correspond by e mail. I plan to call the FCC.
May
I'm looking to use Skype for free but it seems I can only get it by giving them £10. Is there not another way of getting Skype without this cost ?
I am now to Skype, but my understanding is that if the party you are calling also has a skype account, then you can talk to him/her for free. You have to pay only when the other party Does not have a Skype account and you will have to call his/her "normal" landline phone.
Again, I might be wrong. Today is my first day reading the stuff...
While I have found that both my SkypeOut service and SkypeIn service have perofrmed quite well from a technical standpoint, Skype's customer support is absolutely horrible, especially where the paid services are involved.
The "business control panel" (a.k.a. group user control panel) is far from intuitive and difficult to use and Skype's paranoid, draconian payment policies make it extremely difficult to add services for additional user names.
Trying to get support from Skype is a frustrating waiting game. Other users have reported that it takes a week, on average, to get an e-mail response (for those who get one) and those responses often do not resolve the problems. To make matters worse, Skype does not provide any kind of telephone support, which is quite ironic for a company that provides telephony services.
Skype needs to handle its paying customers in a much more timely and responsible manner that it seems capable of at present!
Be very carful. Skype has a credit cancellation policy in place where they can cancel your credit. They just cancelled mine ($71.00) despite many attempts to correct audio problems and attempt to get an adjustment and return for unused service because of an inability to communicate. After ten emails and in inability to raise any single person in a verbal communication, all I can do is advise the public that Skypes popularity is not warranted and that their policies are akin to stealing. BEWARE! BEWARE!
no, no, no!!!!
I could not understand why I was using so much skype credit?
I have been buying all the time!
Now I have noticed, a bid to late, that my skype credit just disappears!!!!
Also I have been overcharged by making calls to mobile phones to Brasil.
For 1.11 minute I was charged euro 1,21!
Who is the thief?
Skype just sent me several SPAMs telling me that they confiskated my Skypeout money and want more money. Once I discover someone is a thief, I never deal with them again.
Bert
Well use a landline for those calls it's cheap as hell for everything else including mobiles.
I bought €10.00 credit but voice was breaking at first and then i was charged although the other side couldnt hear it.
I think it is ripping off peoples money.
I lost €11.70 and couldntget to talk.
if there was a system in place for skype i would get to them even if i had to spend £100.00 just to get my money back from them.
I will never use skype calling it is a ripp off
I find using skype is easy BUT 2 things are annoying. First, the often experienced time delays where we trip over each other in chatting.
The second ENRAGES me! I received an email saying my credit balance on Skype Out will be cancelled if II don't use it soon. This is STEALING my money. How can they get away with this arbitrary expiration period? (they explain it as a normal accounting procedure) They hold my money in trust for my use. It's like AMEX deciding not to honour millions of unused travelers cheques because they haven't been cashed yet.
I emailed Skype many weeks ago but did not receive a reply...only a second "Reminder' of my pending expiration I therefore made a .02 E call to stay 'current' This action of theirs is dishonest and as more competitors climb aboard I am considering switching.
I have found that Skype's quality is about the quality of cell phone quality when useing a wireless network. Unfortunatly if they process the order wrong or if there crediting problem (like it isn't activated properly) you can loose your money. I purchased 2 numbers. Only one worked. 10 emails later the second number is expired. The problem is skype is now part of ebay who is can be terrible if there is a problem. Sometimes the only recourse is the consumer protection act and calling your credit card company back and doing a charge back. For all of that loose money I'd do a chargeback when you can with ebay, paypal and skype. After they get 1% chargebacks and $50 transaction fees the credit card processing company will refuse them the abilty to charge making them review their customer service polcies.
In the last few months, my cousin, my business partner and I have all experienced the same problem - outgoing calls from a computer to a land line is unadible to the person on the land line. You can't fix it from your computer at all. This happens on every computer we've tried and we've tried on 5 different networks.
There's nobody you can contact, skype support at support@skype.net just ignores me completely, except I got a problem ticket:
#731478-1016016#
And the last I've heard from them was a week ago.
This post has been removed by a moderator.