Skype Ultimate

[halfprep455]

I am looking into buying Skype Ultimate. If you buy the $30 a year deal you get unlimited calles to anywhere in North America if Im not mistaking. The question I have is how reliable is Skype? I have heard some people tell me that their service was excellant and had few dropped calls but I kow some other people who say it just sucked. I have Comcast high speed internet and our bandwith is like 8MBS or something.

 

[Eidorian]

I got Skype Out when it was $14.95. The real worry is how much bandwidth you have upstream. I've only had 1-2% of my calls drop and it's normally on the other end. I love the sound quality though.

 

[halfprep455]

I have really good bandwidth going upstream. This may sound wierd but I have been able to get my internet as high as 8mbs down and 9mbs up. Its usually the other way around.

 

[Eidorian]

You only need a solid 512 kbps up for Skype if you want to browse as well.

 

[xsedrinam]

We use both SkypeOut and SkypeIn. The observations about bandwidth being crucial are spot on. We've had good service and reception with SkypeOut and peer to peer calling. We called both our kid's cells and talked last weekend (45 minutes) for about .90¢

SkypeIn has been a disappointment. The local number, our kids dial which is supposed to allow them to call us, is always busy. They've yet to be able to call us.

 

[localoid]

Speaking of Skype... Skype 2.6 (Beta) for Mac has been released today.

 

[LastZion]

Is there anyway to limit the bandwidth of Skype? We have 3 macs on a 802.11g router and everytime one of us goes on skype the other 2 are done for and lose connection.

Any ideas?