I had a chance to play around with Skype this week, and came away impressed. Skype is another "internet phone" product for PCs but with a few key differences. Skype boasts it has been downloaded over 7 million times, and as of the time of writing this article has over 200k users listed as online from all over the world (including 40 that claim to be in Iraq).

There is nothing new about voice applications for PCs, they have been around in one form or another from before there was widespread broadband. (net2phone among others). So why write about Skype?


Skype offers a few interesting twists on the concept, twists that could put it in a box seat if governments seek to tax Voice over IP networks and push for the right to silently wire-tap paid VOIP services, as easily as they can wire-tap regular phone lines: despite recent protestations by Vonage et al, that wire-tap orders will be "difficult" to obey on VoIP networks, they are certainly "possible".

encryption Skype is point to point encrypted with 256bit AES. This is the best published cipher that the world currently has. Although it there may be some attacks against the current AES that could reduce its strength, barring new math techniques, a 256bit AES encrypted message is not likely to be broken .. this decade.

A practically unbreakable encrypted phone call means that the NSA can be the man in the middle between you talking to your Mom, devote all their resources to cracking the conversation, and never prove in a court of law that you told her you liked the cardigan she knitted you. One cannot underestimate the significance of this: Companies like Vonage and Packet8 have the capability at least in theory of providing the Feds wire-taps of subscriber calls, with Skype, if you believe their software is written correctly, this is impossible. The encryption is arranged by both PCs taking part in the call, and the keys are unique for each call and thrown away after. An electronic wiretap would require corruption/cooperation of the actual PC making the call using Skype.

peer to peer Skype is built by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, the folks behind p2p file sharing software Kazaa (although it claims not to ship with spyware, yet). The service is peer to peer with no central server routing and accounting for all Skype conversations. The details of what exactly the Skype company servers do, are sketchy, but your encrypted data certainly does not go via them. In this sense, Skype is almost infinitely scalable.

High quality codec. Skype came under some rotten-egg criticism from the Vonage chief who called the call quality "terrible". Well, we're not sure what was wrong with his PC, because that is not our experience. The codec is 128kbit, which is a wider data path than Vonage offers and over twice as wide as the PSTN (public switched telephone network), and the quality (with even a cheap USB headset) reminds one of a sound recording booth. A 128kbit mp3 file of someone speaking hardly sounds any better! Skype does need and use a broadband connection, it is pointless trying it over a dialup connection.

Works over NAT. Skype uses UDP and will work with all but the most rigid firewalls. In my test calls, both parties were behind secure home NAT routers with no ports "poked open", and yet calls could be made back and forth without issue. Whether Skype works over some more paranoid corporate firewalls is unclear.

Free So far, Skype is totally free as they add features. Skype is backed by a VC firm and their plan to monetize the product in future is not clear. Our guess is that when they meet some user targets, additional premium features will cost money.

I downloaded and installed Skype (windows only, so far), and the signup process was fast and easy - they do not even require any valid email address - it is there merely in case you forget your login password. Accounts, and any extra details you wish to give it, are stored on a Skype server.

Testing Skype with a cheap USB headset (one from a playstation 2 game), I quickly convinced a friend with a laptop microphone to test things out. If you are logged into Skype (which looks a bit like any other instant messaging program), you can see which of your contacts are online and initiate a call to them. If they do not pickup, their end notifies them of a "missed call" (no voice mail facility is offered). You can also use a functional instant message chat interface for contacts who do not have mic or speakers. Our calls were crystal clear, and even though the other party had no headset, Skype squelched my voice as it was picked up by their laptop microphone.

If your broadband (or home wireless) connection is flakey, Skype calls will degrade, adding lag and periods of silence. On a very bad connection, Skype hardly worked at all, but then again, neither did Vonage.



Skype have also just added 5 way calling: such a facility may be of interest to gamers looking for higher quality alternatives to team-speak type programs.

The directory lookup service in Skype is also fast enough to use reliably. You can search for Skype users by language, email, country and more.



Skype does NOT connect with the regular telephone network (no calling any telephone numbers from Skype, and no being called from Skype). This functionality is also listed as "coming soon". It is unlikely that Skype can add to-phone functionality without adding fees. However, if they do offer reliable to-phone functions I for one will be happy to upgrade my USB headset (perhaps to one that is wireless and bluetooth, or this one) and use Skype instead of my cellphone or home phone when sitting at the PC.

Skype is no replacement for a home phone, and no threat to vonage, yet. It has no 911, and you can only call friends who are online with Skype along with you. However as a way to speak to people with broadband connections living overseas, or people with broadband connections who tend to sit at their PC all day or all evening, it is an impressive bit of software.

If you try Skype and want to receive calls from other BBR users, feel free to post your callto URL.