Skype is really not new, though it is new to a lot of people. Skype is a tool that allows people to communicate over the Internet...for free. Well, kind of.
Sending the human voice over the Internet – using it as telephone lines – falls under something called VoIP: Voice Over Internet Protocol.
The first time I used a VoIP connection it sounded like what I expected it to sound like: like I was using a computer. The connection was tinny, and it echoed a lot. This was a number of years ago. Frankly, I really don't remember how long ago: six or seven years at least. The experience was cool in that while living in Boston I was talking to a friend in Chicago for free. I liked free. I didn't like the quality of the connection, but I liked free.
I also didn't like having to recruit everyone I knew onto the same network in order to continue taking advantage of the best aspect of the service: the cost.
Skype is not much different, but it is improved. The quality is significantly better that it used to be. The quality is so good that many of you might not even know that you are now using VoIP. You don't have to be on Skype to be using VoIP. AT&T Uverse. Comcast Voice services. These services are all VoIP.
When it comes to Skype, specifically, there is no longer the need to recruit others onto Skype in order to use it. That need does exist if you still want the price benefit of Skype: it is only free when you call other Skype users though Skype. If you want to call any number outside of Skype – you can call any telephone through Skype – you have to pay money. Suddenly the benefit of the Internet-based communication device doesn't seem so beneficial.
Many people swear by Skype, though, and I understand why, particularly if you are able to recruit your friends onto the network.
But with my own recent conversion onto a VoIP network for my home phone I suddenly saw the biggest problems with it.
For almost a year I had only used my mobile phone. We had had problems with our land-line at our house, but with two school aged boys under 12, I really wanted a land line that they could use. Living in California I also started thinking about disaster planning. In a disaster a mobile phone is not the best option. Tried and true, you want to have a land-line: the closest analog to two tin cans and a length of twine.
So we called AT&T and had all of our wiring in our house fixed – it was the real problem – and reinstated basic telephone service in our home. Theoretically there was very little that could disrupt this service.
Practically speaking, however, the cost of the land-line on top of Internet access and cable television was costing more than I thought it should, so we “upgraded” – AT&T's language – to AT&T Uverse: a bundle of services that include Internet connection, television, and VoIP.
After its installation I suddenly realized my mistake. We no longer had that tried and true telecommunications connection.
If the power goes out we only have a 3 hour battery back-up. If there is disruption in Internet service, we have no telephone. The biggest concern, however, is the power going out.
Back in the dark ages of telephone service, the only reason your telephone wouldn't work in a power outage would be if your home telephones were wireless phones, not mobile, just wireless within the home. So now in the land of VoIP, if the power goes out for half a day you have no phone. That's it.
Two years ago my parents, who live in Florida, were without power for five days after a hurricane. It was a natural disaster, but not devastating like Katrina, and still there was no power there for five days. The only reason I was able to maintain communications with them was because they had the old tried and true land lines.
So while VoIP is way cool, and in the case of Skype it can be free, is it really the direction we need to be taking our communications? Old school land lines are so passe, but it is amazing how reliable passe can be, and maybe it's time to stand up and demand that passe remains available: particularly in a place like California where the need for back-up communications, and tried and true land lines during the time of natural disaster, is a matter of when, not if.
RJ Lavallee is the author of IMHO (In My Humble Opinion): a guide to the benefits and dangers of today’s communication tools on sale at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and lulu.com.
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