Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Skype running hot, turbo-charged on Metcalfe's Law -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Elmer Flugum who wrote (86)	9/9/2005 6:42:01 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Respond to of 170

I just had a conference call on Skype with somebody in Kiev [Ukraine] and a couple of people in the USA. Total cost = zero other than having to have internet services available, which we have anyway. It wouldn't have been possible to make the call with olde style telecom services as just finding phone numbers for a hotel in Kiev then trying to speak English to them would have made it very hard work. If we did make a connection, it would have cost a fortune. The quality was broken for some reason for a couple of them [from USA] but Kiev to NZ was fine. I think it was via geostationary, so the old "over" at the end of a comment was necessary [as is still sometimes the case on phone calls]. I used Telecom New Zealand's international call calculator to see what they would have charged telecom.co.nz and it is NZ$27 [US$20] for a normal 15 minute call, and with the other parties having to also pay for their calls, and maybe a conference call charge too, there wouldn't have been a lot of change out of US$100. Assuming we could do it. With Skype we can see that the person is there and available. A message can be sent. Also video [though because it was 1 am in Kiev, he declined a video inspection, understandably]. Mqurice