Easy to use, if it ever works. (Skype)

Member Name: Grummy

Product:	Skype
Date:	21/08/09 (20 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Incredibly simple to install and use.

Disadvantages: Completely and utterly unreliable to the point where it is at times wholly unusable.

I used Skype for around 3 months this year and found it to be both very user friendly and incredibly unreliable. So much so that I stopped using it.

I use Voice over IP communications for chatting with friends around the world, and Skype was used for a period when I was only talking with a couple of friends in Northern Ireland.

We chose Skype because it is very easy to install and set up. You go to the Skype Website and just follow all the links to install the software. It takes about 2-3 minutes, and you are ready to go. In that respect it is truly excellent.

The system works much like a normal telephone call, you choose who you want to call, press to dial and it rings waiting for them to answer. Lovely and simple.

To make calls to other people you have a couple of options, either call someone else who uses Skype, or you can call to an actual telephone. The calls to other Skype users is a free option, the calls to telephones on the other hand actually cost, and its not just the normal cost of a call as if you were calling from your home phone either, so that is certainly something to be aware of.

In terms of actual quality of the calls, well, they're above average. Calls to other Skype users can be very tinny at times, and occasionally the clarity will reduce to little more than a dull mumble, but on the whole the audio quality is decent and serviceable. Calls to telephones I found to be of a somewhat lower quality than calls to other Skype users, but that quality was quite consistent, like calling someone from a mobile phone with 2-3 bars of signal, so it was serviceable and you can hear what people are saying, even if the quality is somewhat grainy and scratchy.

The big problem with this service (and it IS a big problem) is that it is wholly unreliable. You can call a friend who you know to be online and using Skype, and yet the call won't connect with no explanation as to why. Frequently calls will just cut out for no reason at all. Yes you can call back, but a few minutes later the call will be dropped again. Sometimes you'll call, and the other person will pick up the call, but you won't be able to hear them, and this again can lead to the call cutting out.

The stability and reliability of this application is one of the worst I have experienced. It got to be so bad that we had to stop using it and find an alternative, which we did.

Skype has 2 main competitors, Ventrilo (which I have also reviewed) and Teamspeak. Both are free services, and both are far and away more reliable than Skype, which is a huge determining factor when choosing which application too use.

I won't go into details about those 2 as you can feel free to read my reviews on them to get an idea, but I will bring up a couple of points. Skype is without question the most unreliable of the 3, and that is a desperate shame as it is without question the most user friendly, which is an important aspect , add to that the additional feature of being able to call telephones as well, and it is a great little package, but its utter lack of reliability make sit the worst option of the 3. this is compounded by the fact that Skype is not that frequently updated. No amount of reports and emails ever got me an answer why calls were so unreliable, nor did I see any evidence that they were investigating it.

I was very underwhelmed by the customer service. Now admittedly this is not really an issue of the application itself, it IS relevant because you want to know you are going to receive prompt and efficient assistance and resolution if you are having problems. I found the Customer service to be slow, lazy and wholly unhelpful. Which again is a shame because the core application is decent. It just hindered by issues that nobody seems to want to fix.

To quickly sum up then, I'll address the focus points as rated

Features: Decent. Calls to both other Skype users and telephones available. The application also has quite a few tabbed options that helps you navigate to your numbers and viewing of call history.
Reliability: Awful. Frankly, it doesn't exist.
User friendly: Flawless, no question about it, this application is incredibly easy to use.
Installation: Also flawless, quick and simple.
Update: There is a POSSIBILITY that it will be updated, but it seems to be a very slim one as I saw no evidence of it in the time I used the application.

Summary: Only worth using if you CAN'T use one of the alernatives.

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