Why Don't ISP's Use Skype?

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LoneGunman

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Here's a stunning simple way of bypassing Telkom - if you're a business - I noticed when looking through hotels and accomodation in London, that a few (not many but its probably still early days yet) hotels are stating that they're available online via Skype for any queries.
Brilliant. No cost to potential customers to get information.
Why don't some of the local businesses who have ADSL, start offering the same service?

And more importantly - why don't the local ISP's offer a free Skype call service?
(I'm with Axxess, for instance - why should I have to pay Telkom for a long distance call from JHB to Port Elizabeth, every time there's a glitch, or I have a query?)
If my line is down, its still cheaper to find a local net cafe and Skype them to troubleshoot, than it is to sit online at Telkom's outrageous prices.
Shouldn't we all start asking our ISP's to install a Skype service so that we don't have to pay Telkom every time we need info? Added to this, it then gives them a free extra line to help customers, at no extra cost to themselves, thus freeing up some of their 'regular' lines.
 
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It's a good idea but are u gonna run back and forth from the cafe till ure line is up.(And then it's telkoms fault)
And even if they put one skype user per town ,he is gonna be overloaded with calls all the time.(I mean it's free 2 the customer.Just 2 find out something "quickly".)

??
 
Well there's also the problem of infrastructure i think. The callcentre/helpdesk systems have all been worked out and it works perfectly. Now you want to bring skype into the mix and suddenly this beautiful hold music that your company paid for is useless.

There's no way to put people in quee's the traditional way i think also.
 
yeah, you folks raise valid points - still - having become a recent convert to the coolness of making a totally free call via the net, and seeing a couple of UK companies offering a way to contact them that doesnt cost a thing - I thought it'd be a nice alt way for ISP's to essentially get another line thats free for everyone, and if its jammed, well tough - it doesnt cost a cent..

(I'm not sure how Skype works on networks, whether or not you can have 6 skypes on six different machines, each with a headset and mike, in which case ISP X has suddenly increased their incoming lines by six (or more), at a total cost of just a few bucks for the headsets & mikes..)
For anyone who's sat online on hold to an ISP and/or their helpdesk, the idea of the call costing NOTHING - is delicious..

Its just a thought, for ISP's to take advantage of the technology that's here already, and show their customers they're pro-active and sussed enough to offer a freebie way of being contacted..
 
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good idea... LG

and this contraption is all they would need to take more than 1 skype call at a time...

http://www.skypephones.co.za/default.asp?pageID=759622165&productID={A0745DEB-430B-45A6-AEEA-349E1AD02E32}
(works with an analogue switchboard)
 
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good site! That switchboard thing is the kind've info that should be passed onto every business that already has ADSL - so that gradually, Telkom's profits from IT and ISP-related and 'quick customer query' calls gets chipped away at, until a goodly portion of customer interaction (from those with ADSL themselves) happens via the net and Telkom are reduced to making money only from the basic line rental scam..

As people/businesses get ADSL, they switch to offering Skype contact methods - bypassing Telkom completely.
And that ought to make Telkom mad as hell - because they'll notice the sudden drop in average profits from calls :)

If I was running an ISP, it'd be real cool to offer a free way for my customers to call in with their queries - as well as allow me, if I need to, to call them for free. (That'd increase my profit margin, as phone bill costs start to drop instantly..)
 
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One other point with skype which makes skype even better is you can log in to one skype account on multiple machines. When someone call all the machines will ring and the call will be connected to the first one that answers.
 
That I did not know.
Very interesting.

Then it could work, In some way.
 
You can have a separate Skype account per machine. You'd probably need a Skype switchboard in order to manage the incoming calls.

An alternative may be to use SIP rather than Skype - maybe the Asterisk switch can handle it??? Anyone know?

Interesting suggestion!
 
bekdik said:
You can have a separate Skype account per machine. You'd probably need a Skype switchboard in order to manage the incoming calls.

An alternative may be to use SIP rather than Skype - maybe the Asterisk switch can handle it??? Anyone know?

Interesting suggestion!
Click to expand...

I reckon SIP would be really easy to implement because I bet most ISP's are probably using asterisk as their PABX already. If they aren't using asterisk then they are very backward and maybe shouldn't be ISP's.
 
I just did a months worth of beta VOIP testing for a local ISP, so I think we can see them trying to intro their own services pretty soon, although how they expect to compete against sykpe is beyond me
 
given the free nature of general Skype, as well as the fairly solid quality - trying to come up with a VOIP product to compete is a bit like re-inventing the wheel - unless the ISP 'X' has some deranged scheme to sell VOIP products and/or 'time' to mom n pop users who dont know about the pre-existing free options..
 
As far as I know, WA use a SIPS system. But it is internal, you can not contact them directly. I phoned once and was diverted to the guys house via SIPS or some other VoIP system. I fully agree with this and ISP's should offer it as a value added service, this R1pm BS having to phone 0861 numbers is becomming rediculas.
 
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