Feed yourself!
Skype, take a deep breath! You’re dead!
January 21st, 2007 by danAbout a month ago Skype quietly announced a new pricing policy to be effective starting Jan18th. Nobody really knew anything about it and being a beta tester didn’t help either. The little I could learn was that Skype was planning to introduce a per-connection fee general plan.
Straight from the official Skype blog:
“The connection fee is a straightforward set-up charge per call.[..]
The connection fee is 0.039 Euro, excl VAT or the equivalent in local currency.“
Also, “Skype’s new pricing strategy will roll out worldwide during 2007. When launched in full, the pricing strategy consists of a premium subscription package (Skype Pro), one feature of which removes per-minute charges for SkypeOut calls to domestic landlines and includes a small connection fee.“
Now, of course they advertise some lower rates on a few destinations too and say that their new disruptive pricing is revolutionary and cool. We always thought Skype was just too good to be true. Great sound, great client application, cross-platform compatibility, great image and friendly marketing, cheap worldwide calls.
It was just a matter of time till they decided they’re just not getting enough. It’s hard to start as a conventional telco killer then to realize you have to eat too and hey, why were you stupid to start your business with rates so low??
There’s a rule by which, once you’ve lowered prices, you can’t rise them back. Skype lowered some tarrifs but pumped up a whole new wallet killer: the connection fee.
And since Skype is famous at dropping calls frequently, f**k this! The game’s over. Everyone used to close their eyes and said “it’s okay” when calls dropped because the whole thing was cheap.
But who’s willing to spend about 2 minutes ($/euro 0.039) of global rate calls on every call drop?
My forcast: one more year!
Sorry Skype, you blew it this time!
PS: don’t forget the competition.
Posted in Skype | 
6 Comments »
January 25th, 2007 at 8:18 pm
Although this connection fee doesn’t apply to SkypeOut Unlimited plans, it’s true that the dropped call rate rivals mobile phones of ten years past. Hardly acceptible if one wants to use Skype for any legitimate purpose. I’ve had nothing but bad luck with the service since I’ve used it. Well a little good luck, but it seems that luck has more to do with it than technology. Sinking cash into a half-assed service, man!
Now, about that competition:
Who else is offering PC-Phone and Phone-PC services? I’ve been asleep.
January 30th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
I agree with and share a similar experience to Mojohito. I have a skype out phone and have for two years but since their takeover a little over a year ago I’ve had nothing but shitty connections and dropped calls. Why would I want to pay for this? I hear Yahoo is offering computer to computer telephony but I don’t know the details. I’m thinking of getting a vonage phone as I do want to have US number for my family back home to call me. Poor Skype, you were such a beautiful thing. What went wrong.
*sob*
February 14th, 2007 at 11:17 pm
[...] Remember “Skype, take a deep breath! You’re dead” we published a couple of weeks ago on their new pricing? We should have said “Take a deeper breath” because of new startups out there representing compelling competition. Our readers asked us about that competition and we went researching. But voip-news.com just published a list of 25 alternatives to Skype, making it a hell of a lot easier for us. . [...]
February 15th, 2007 at 8:30 pm
3,9 cents is a walletkiller? I have two SkypeIn numbers, in Brazil and in the States and have never had a problem, never a dropped call. I still find it very affordable. Go ahead and try Vonage. Or Yahoo. Cry babies whining about 4 cents if you ask me. Skype still kicks butt and you all forget that it’s a revolutonary service. You complain like free telephony is a God-given right or a government-subsidized utility, forgetting that these guys are bucking the system and making it cheap for you to come along and do it too. Quit crying. It’s still hell of cheap and convenient.
February 16th, 2007 at 1:34 am
dude, good rant there! Good for you! But you missed that I couldn’t care what Skype’s pricing is. They could be asking ten times that, I’d use it if had to, no worries! The whole article wasn’t around the amount or any specific fee, but was on the thing called “disruptive pricing”. It’s maybe you and me and a couple thousands more who are easy on it, but that’s not how those small users out there think. God-given right or not, anyone can choose. I chose to pass on the new pricing. That simple!
Disclaimer: I work with Skype as part of the Skype beta tester team. This does not affect my personal views on their marketing or pricing, though.
February 17th, 2007 at 7:40 pm
Fair enough, I guess my tone was a bit aggressive. But really, let’s not complain when the connection fee jumps to 4 cents. That’s really just like free to most people. I still think Skype is wonderful and my only complaint is that maybe they are trying to launch too many services, since some people are finding occassional problems, maybe they should just do a few things really well. But my main point is, let’s not complain about pennies. This is not a big utility company. It’s the good guys fighting the good fight, taking to the utility companies that have had their way with us for generations.