Voicespan

So Skype have embraced the SIP world, including integration into Asterisk. It had to happen as there was no other way Skype was going to make significant inroads into the business market (see my previous blog on Ebay selling Skype).

So now it’s possible, from within your VoIP-enabled PBX, to make a receive calls to Skype users. Of course Skype to Skype calls have always been free, so placing a call through a Skype channel to a Skype user will be free. However, there will be a practical difficulty in called an alphameric id using just a numeric keypad. Not a show-stopper (for instance, you could set up numeric aliases for all the Skype users you might call, or use an on-screen app to set up the calls), but a bit awkward nonetheless.

It remains to be seen just how popular this will be. For ‘Skype for SIP’ there will be a monthly cost for each channel you wish to use. If you’re a small business and only want one or two channels, then it will be difficult to justify the £16.95 cost per channel per month. That’s a lot of calls, even over the PSTN. Skype for Asterisk is a little easier to stomach, as it’s a one-off charge of about $65 per channel. Over time that should be easier to recoup. But I really can’t see Asterisk (or other PBX) users choosing a Skype channel for non-Skype calls when the cost per minute is significantly more than the average ITSP.

I must confess that I still have my doubts over the viability of Skype in a business setting. But one of the hurdles has now been removed, so maybe it will happen after all. To illustrate how, my esteemed colleague over at Asterisk Pro, Nik Middleton, is actively using Skype for Asterisk to provide a service that feeds inbound Skype calls into his office Asterisk system. Previously this would have been a lot more awkward to achieve.

Watch this space.