spherebox

As a frequent traveler, I use VoIP regularly to call back to Malaysia to avoid high roaming charges. I used to use VoipStunt since it has a very good deal (120 days of free call to certain locations).

But I’ve decided to cancel it and give Skype a try instead, mainly because of VoipStunt’s relatively average voice quality and the time it takes to make the conversation smooth (sometimes it took a 30-second lag before being able to get a decent conversation if the line was bad).

Like any other VoIP clients, Skype is free for PC-to-PC calls, and calling to Mobile/Landlines would require you to pay for a fee (a.k.a. Skypeout credit). The main difference is, however, Skype is utilizing P2P technology rather than the traditional client/server architecture.

Without wasting time, I purchased EUR10 SkypeOut credit, the payment process was done via Paypal and it was straightforward (although it mentioned there it might take 30 minutes to process the payment, my SkypeOut credit got updated in no time).

I’ve then made my first ever SkypeOut call in my life (to Malaysia landlines @ EUR 0.02/min). It took around 10-15 seconds for the call to be established, and once connected, the conversation was very smooth, its crystal clear voice quality was definitely better than VoipStunt’s one.

However, one thing that I’m still puzzled is that the SkypeOut credit seems to be getting deducted quite slow (it probably takes around 5 minutes). I’d definitely expect it to be real time instead.

Overall, SkypeOut is a very good service provided by Skype. Despite being more expensive than other alternatives, I think it’s definitely worth is since Skype’s voice quality is undeniably perfect.