I use it mainly for personal calls. We do use it on occasion for business conference calls which works pretty good, usually better quality than POTs. I only run Skype when I need it as will add your computer to the Skype distributed processing network.
Quality is variable. Half the time, it's really good, other times it's has weird quality problems which can make things a bit distorted. Sure beats paying $0.41/min to call my sister in Fiji to hear about the dog BBQ they attended in some corner of the South Pacific.
There's a "SkypeMe" mode which exposes you to everyone, and a "contacts only" mode. The test call I just made seemed to be of high quality.
Sounds like something Philippe would enjoy ;-)
...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: "skypeanalog" | |
| Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |
America: Land of the Free, Because of the Brave
You can get Skype to show some numbers that help identify problems and quality. Options -> Advanced -> Connection Check the boxes labeled: [x] Display tech info during calls and [x] Display Skype bandwidth usage
I've found that audio quality and Skype Video are usually mutually exclusive. If the audio starts to sound like you're gargling ball bearings, turn off the video.
--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
I don't do video... I don't want to scare the clients ;-)
...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: "skypeanalog" | |
| Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |
America: Land of the Free, Because of the Brave
They always save a chair for them (the dog) at the bistro ;-)
...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: "skypeanalog" | |
| Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |
America: Land of the Free, Because of the Brave
There's nothing in the rules that even suggests that the camera has to be pointed at your face. At home, I use an external NTSC video source, which allows me to feed from my security camera mess, DirecTV receiver, DVD player, test pattern generator, or whatever. I suspect my customers would lose confidence in my abilities if they saw me unshaven, disheveled, and dressed in pajamas. If diplomacy requires that I look presentable over Skype, I have a few video clips that I can play of me faking the professional look.
There are also some video replacements and enhancements for Skype.
Dig through the Skype "extras" collection and see if there's anything that inspires you to abuse the program.
(Note: Abuse and pollution are the surest signs of success).
What I feel like today:
(Wait until the image is done loading. Then, move the mouse around).
--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
I am going to hire a good looking assistant to front for me. I too skype U,D and D in PJ. I'll do skype conference call to customer with my assistant in webcam. I'll do the talking and hopeful the customer do the looking. The customer does not need to understand what I am talking about, just comfortable enough to keep sending money.
Many years ago, when I was still working for wages and stock options, I learned the hard way that gorgeous secretaries and "assistants" are a bad idea for productivity. Besides providing an attractive nuisance for the entire male population of the company, they had the irritating habit of suing for sexual harassment when it was time to job hop. I was also blessed with an attempted paternity suit.
In self defense, we collectively decided to hire only fat, ugly, older and married women. Productivity and efficiency was immediately restored. The engineering lab shed its meat market image. The constant secretarial job rotation ceased. My lady friend ceased being suspicious.
I suggest you think very carefully before hiring a "good looking" assistant. Ugly is good.[1]
If the customer understood the problem, much less understood your analysis of the problem, they would be perfectly capable of dealing with it themselves. You would be superfluous and digging ditches instead of doing design. It's far better to keep the customer in a permanent state of panic and fear, than to risk having them actually understand their own projects, and therefore keeping you employed.
Extracting money from the clients is an art form. Some consultants have the skill, but I don't. Bill collecting is not taught in the colleges. Unfortunately, my past financial experience was in credit settlement, where I would offer the not holder 10% of the face value, or he gets to dig through the wreckage in bankruptcy court. This method of dealing with customers has been far from satisfactory, but is the only one I know.
I've never found a relationship between the level at which I keep the client informed of my progress (or digress) and his willingness to send money (usually in the form of progress payments). In fact, I've found that if I don't bother the client with reports, he will send money on the assumption that everything is going along just fine. If the client knew that I was stuck at some insurmountable impasse, he would never even consider paying me. Therefore, an un-informed client is a happy and well paying client.
[1] Never, never, never, never hire the wife of the marketing manager to "help out" in the lab. Bad idea. Very bad idea.
--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
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