UKVoIPTalk.com

Hi all, I do try to read from time to time but I only get the few mins to
look into this stuff in detail.

My question is simple really, what will I get better "Quality" with.. Skype
or SIPservices. I will be using the Skyepin/Sipin type of service and I
find that the prices are really similar, so ignoring that there are several
companys, how does the standard type of SIP services compare in vocal
quality to Skype..

The receiving unit will be a PC, But I wouldnt mind getting an ATA or skype
converter to use this stuff on my Dect phones and I do hear that the skyp
ones are horrid..

Looking for suggestions not flames ;).. thanks

mr deo wrote:[color=blue]
> Hi all, I do try to read from time to time but I only get the few mins to
> look into this stuff in detail.
>
> My question is simple really, what will I get better "Quality" with.. Skype
> or SIPservices. I will be using the Skyepin/Sipin type of service and I
> find that the prices are really similar, so ignoring that there are several
> companys, how does the standard type of SIP services compare in vocal
> quality to Skype..
>
> The receiving unit will be a PC, But I wouldnt mind getting an ATA or skype
> converter to use this stuff on my Dect phones and I do hear that the skyp
> ones are horrid..
>
> Looking for suggestions not flames ;).. thanks
>
>[/color]


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=blue]
> 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 :(.

"mr deo" <rstlne@atatwhereherewheretherehuyeh.com> wrote in message
news:_1RHh.56905$z54.1105@newsfe3-gui.ntli.net...[color=blue]
> Hi all, I do try to read from time to time but I only get the few mins to
> look into this stuff in detail.
>
> My question is simple really, what will I get better "Quality" with..
> Skype
> or SIPservices. I will be using the Skyepin/Sipin type of service and I
> find that the prices are really similar, so ignoring that there are
> several
> companys, how does the standard type of SIP services compare in vocal
> quality to Skype..
>
> The receiving unit will be a PC, But I wouldnt mind getting an ATA or
> skype
> converter to use this stuff on my Dect phones and I do hear that the skyp
> ones are horrid..
>
> Looking for suggestions not flames ;).. thanks[/color]

You are wise to look at both system. I have used mainly the SIP so my
thoughts are as follows :
SIP Sound quality can be very good. For ease of use a ATA gets round all
issues of other applciations or PC crash inflciting problems on your calls.
A big advantage is the number of providers, some like SIPGATE offer
free incoming calls. Other such as internetcalls.com offer free calls (of a
kind). If you get an adapter which can cope with multiple accounts you can
have the best of both worlds

Skype has has he benefit of being easy to use. And if you want a service
which you can use at multiple locations such as hotel WIFI, other peoples
houses or on company LAN systems SKYPE works much better as the connections
gets passed more zealous firewalls.

But the Skype to phone converters are not great as you need SKYPE running on
a PC to make them work. there are no standalone ATA units yet as far as I
know

"Salvador Freemanson" <spam@gohome.com> wrote in message
news:45efe56f$0$24784$426a34cc@news.free.fr

[snip]
[color=blue]
> 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]

*Can* being the operative word. That doesn't mean it will. I have rarely
encountered a problem with SIP even when calling people in the USA and
other parts of the world.

Make sure you have QoS (Quality of Service) on your router, it can make a
big difference in this respect by prioritisng the VoIP traffic. Uesful if
the connection is also used for downloading at the same time.

Ivor

On Thu, 08 Mar 2007 11:19:16 GMT, "mr deo"
<rstlne@atatwhereherewheretherehuyeh.com> wrote:

[color=blue]
>
>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.[/color]
If you get your own number on SIP it is often a standard geographic
number so for people to call you it is exactly th esame as calling a
standard landline.
voip.co.uk include a geographic number in their UK package and it is
just a one off charge os £2 if I remember correctly.
If you have a SIP device you can arrange to have as many outgoing
providers as it permits (or use a service such as Voxalot). Unlike
Skype where you have to pay Skype for all your calls, there is a
choice of hundereds of SIP operators. If, for example, you make
international calls you may decide to go with a company that is not
based in the UK.

[color=blue]
> 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).[/color]
I would say that often the sound quality of Skype can be very good.
Some podcasts I listen to use Skype to link the various participants
together. However, Skype quality can be horrible too.
The quality of SIP depends, to some extent, on the choice of codec.
Some are wider bandwidth than others. All in all SIP quality is
perfectly good for purpose. I use only SIP and get no problems at all.
A problem you might get is where you are downloading a big file and
you don't have QoS on your router. I currently don't have it but I
rarely get any problems.[color=blue]
>Do you use inbound services, and would you go as far as to say that Inbound
>services are equal to Outbound services?.[/color]
Yes equal.[color=blue]
>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 :(.[/color]
If you are going to buy an ATA then be careful to pick the right one.
Some have provision for integrating a standard landline (if oyu have
one). Some are much poorer quality than others - so you should seek
advice on this if you are not sure.


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