[clug] VOIP advice

[Alex Osborne]

Chris Henman wrote:
 >
 > Pardon my ignorance, stupidity, whatever but what about Skype?
 >

Even if the privacy and ethical isues that Daniel mentioned don't  
bother you,  compare the rates for between Skype and PennyTel for  
example.  Skype is nearly three times the cost for Australian mobile  
calls.

http://www.skype.com/prices/callrates/?currency=AUD
http://www.pennytel.com/call_rate_pphone.jsp#A

If you go with SIP you can shop around and even use multiple service  
providers simultaneously to get the best rates to different places.   
You can use a much wider range of software and hardware (you're not  
locked into whatever Skype chooses to approve or support), so for  
example you could use a PDA with wifi to make calls.

That said, for all these sacrificies you do get a bit more of a plug  
and play experience with Skype.  But personally I don't think it's  
worth it.

Cheers,

Alex