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> Hello
>
> I've used both Skype and a few different Sip services, mainly for
> phoning out, but the quality issue should be comparable.
> First of all, I don't agree that the prices are prety similar. Skype Out
> is a lot more expensive than the SIP services I have used. Wengo give
> you the first five seconds free of charge (they are the only supplier I
> have found that do this, please let me know if there are any others),
> which means you don't have to pay the call set-up fee if you get voice
> mail. This can be quite appreciable, especially when calling foreign
> mobiles.
>
> On sound quality, I find that on a good day there is not a lot to choose
> between them, especially on short distances (between France and UK).
> But on some days and over very long distances (northern Brazil to UK or
> France)they can vary widely. I tend to try a cheap one and switch to a
> more expensive one if the quality is too bad.
>
> Don't listen to people who tell you the Internet is distance
> independent. It isn't. When used for VOIP it can introduce a very big
> latency time, which makes the conversation more like a walky-talky
> ("over to you") than an interactive phone chat with people interrrupting
> each other all the time.
>[/color]

Hi, Thanks for the views and reply :).. I should have been slightly more
specific on the simlar price thing. I was meaning the "Call In" rate to get
my own number. Yes, I remember the Walky-Talky type of problems back from
the old 14,400 VOIP days, at that time it was more like todays PTT phones
because sound cards were often expensive if they supported full duplex. I
do remember that EVEN THEN the quality wasnt horrible. Most of my calls
will go from UK->Texas(USA) and the network path is usually excellent (from
ntl).

Do you use inbound services, and would you go as far as to say that Inbound
services are equal to Outbound services?. I personally would hope that the
dedicated encryption boxes on the inbound are excellent for the supplied
task but I dont want to waste 30£ to find out that one of them is crap :(.