Skype for BB?

[gkisela]

I was just wondering if anyone has any thoughts as too why it's taking so long for Skype to come to Blackberry globally. As far as I'm aware of, it's available on certain phones & that's only the States.
It's a bit of a shame, RIM wonders why it's struggling so much against other phone companies.

 

[kooldude]

I think our networks will not allow it on BB locally.

 

[SoTrue]

....because you will be talking forever and only pay R60 pm. But even if Skype for BB could run outside BIS/BES it should still make for very cheap calls?

 

[CranialBlaze]

Firstly Skype has signed and agreement with Verizon Wireless, its not selected BB's in the states, its selected BB's in the states only on the VW network.
The terms of the agreement prevents skype from being available on any other network in any other country.

Secondly Skype for BB does not work in BIS, VOIP is not possible via BIS. VW customers get a specific AP with username and password that they need to use. This AP server routes their skype traffic via 'internet' on a free usage basis, normal data via BIS and then streaming via charged 'internet'. There is no information as to how long the agreement was signed for and RIM has no say in the matter.

 

[gkisela]

Ahh, that makes complete sense. Now that I think about it, I remember reading an article on MyBB about Skype almost coming here & local networks against the move.

Such a shame though, would have been nice even having just the Skype IM option on phones. It would be a comprimise so that people wouldn't call for free & still have some way of communicating with people globally at an affordable rate.

Thanks so much for the info guys, appreciate it!

 

[CranialBlaze]

Ahh, that makes complete sense. Now that I think about it, I remember reading an article on MyBB about Skype almost coming here & local networks against the move.

Such a shame though, would have been nice even having just the Skype IM option on phones. It would be a comprimise so that people wouldn't call for free & still have some way of communicating with people globally at an affordable rate.

Thanks so much for the info guys, appreciate it!

Skype chat you can do with IMO premium which is about $40 and IMO which is free, they both multi chat apps supporting all the tops, skype, msn, gtalk, yahoo, facebook, etc. Personally i use IMO on both my Droid and Berry even though i paid for IM+ (their is a free 1 but skype only works in 30min sessions). I use IMO as imo.im is much nicer than plus.im, thier web browser based "desktop" versions of their chat apps.

There are a lot of issues with plus.im that imo does not have but they do both sync your histories between the desktop and mobile versions. IMO has the added advantage of account linking so if you setup your linked accounts on thier site then you only need to use any 1 of those accounts to log into on the mobile and it will auto connect on the rest where as with IM+ you need to enter the details for each account you want to use whihc can be a schlep if you change phones or your phone breaks and gets reset. IMO also supports a wider selection of chat protocols including the newly added steam(as in the game thing).

If you just looking for text chat then those 2 are your best bets, if you don't want to drop $40 then IMO is your obvious choice and IMHO the best by far from the 2.

 

[gkisela]

Skype chat you can do with IMO premium which is about $40 and IMO which is free, they both multi chat apps supporting all the tops, skype, msn, gtalk, yahoo, facebook, etc. Personally i use IMO on both my Droid and Berry even though i paid for IM+ (their is a free 1 but skype only works in 30min sessions). I use IMO as imo.im is much nicer than plus.im, thier web browser based "desktop" versions of their chat apps.

There are a lot of issues with plus.im that imo does not have but they do both sync your histories between the desktop and mobile versions. IMO has the added advantage of account linking so if you setup your linked accounts on thier site then you only need to use any 1 of those accounts to log into on the mobile and it will auto connect on the rest where as with IM+ you need to enter the details for each account you want to use whihc can be a schlep if you change phones or your phone breaks and gets reset. IMO also supports a wider selection of chat protocols including the newly added steam(as in the game thing).

If you just looking for text chat then those 2 are your best bets, if you don't want to drop $40 then IMO is your obvious choice and IMHO the best by far from the 2.

Cranial, thank you so much for your advice. Checked out imo.im & it's perfect, exactly what I wanted. Been chatting with my Skype account. Really, I owe you!