Hi Jim.
From a quality of sound perspective, PC-to-PC Skype, when used in conjunction with an "adequate to superior" landline "broadband" connection, is a hard act to follow when it is deployed over conventional cellular airlinks -- and SkypeIn and SkypeOut over any type of facility, because the latter two offerings insert the lower-sound-quality PSTN into the picture. That is, where wireless links are at issue, unless Skype's bandwidth demands have been specifically taken into account and provisions are made for it. In some cases the needed bandwidth simply doesn't exist, so quality is naturally bound to suffer. Even when wireline "broadband" lines of an asymmetrical nature are used, if one end of the conversation is traveling over an upstream path that is excessively slow, the conversation is going to suffer. So I wasn't surprised to read the initial comparisons made at the time of 3's Skype launch to traditional Skype, since many of those were exactly what users were complaining about in the main. Some also complained about the lack of SkypeIn/Out availability, too, but those issues should be worked out at some point independent of the quality issues I believe you were alluding to. The other part that I still want to get to runs directly into a few of the points that Dean Bubley makes in your reference article, but they can wait, since I'm awaiting clearance -- make that, a "sanity check" -- on a few points that I need to understand a little better first. So as not to appear mysterious, I'm exploring a few possibilities that involve multi-modal wireless possibilities that are akin to FMC, but not FMC as it's being deployed anywhere today.
FAC
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