NSI Partners recently decided to begin using Voice Over IP (VOIP) for many of our internal calls. We needed a free and easy to implement software solution that wasn’t a chat client with tacked-on voice features like Yahoo! Messenger or MSN Messenger. Needing only a cheap headset, VOIP utilizes your broadband Internet connection to allow you to make free calls using your computer to anywhere in the world. A quick analysis narrowed our choices to the two main competiters in the free VOIP industry: Skype, and the Gizmo Project.
Skype, acquired by Ebay last October, is the market leader with more than 5.5 million active users. Created by the co-founders of KaZaA, Skype was the first to launch services to integrate software based VOIP with regular landline phones with their SkypeIn and SkypeOut pay services. Skype lately released version 2 of their software, adding video support.
The Gizmo Project was started and is backed by the team behind SIPhone, which include the founders of MP3.com, i-drive, and Linspire. They have taken the open-ended route in the design of the software and of the VOIP backend, and have swiftly risen to be the rival of Skype. To match Skype’s SkypeIn and SkypeOut pay services, Gizmo has its own pay services, Call In and Call Out.
Standards & Tech
Skype is built on a proprietary communication protocal backend and the software itself is also proprietary. For many people this is not problem, but for others concerned about big companies’ drive for sales goals instead of the consumer’s needs this could be an issue. This fact is highlighted as Skype recently added support for up to 10 callers on conference calls…but only on Intel based processers. People with AMD processers are stuck with the previous number of 5 conference callers. This is not a limitation of AMD’s chip design, rather it was a marketing deal with Intel. Also, only Skype clients can connect to the Skype VOIP network.
Gizmo, on the other hand, is based on the open SIP standard. When you register a free account with Gizmo, you get a Gizmo account name, used on the Gizmo network, and a SIP number in the format of 1-747-XXX-XXXX. This number can be used to connect VOIP clients other than the Gizmo client to the Gizmo network. For instance, you can now talk to Google Talk clients. It also allows, through a convoluted process, landline phones to call your Gizmo account without you purchasing a Call In service.
Both clients use peer-to-peer (P2P) technology to make calls, although Skype does it with a twist. Normally, P2P applications connect directly to each other over the Internet. But in order to allieveate congestion in the network and ensure connections, Skype will sometimes “grab” user’s computers with fast pipes and use them as “supernodes” to relay traffic.
In theory this is a good idea, however, some users have reported that being grabbed as a supernode clogges their connections. The only way to fix it is to close Skype. There is no way to control whether you are used as a supernode nor can you set limits on the bandwidth used. With Gizmo, you connect directly to the caller’s computers when you make a call.
Features
Basic chat is built-in into both Skype and Gizmo so you can chat during your call, and they both also encrypt your call using strong algorithims. (Gizmo states in their help files that if you connect to their network using a non-Gizmo client your calls may or may not be encrypted.)
People have described Skype’s features as basic, at least in comparison to Gizmo. Gizmo, for instance, has one-click call recording, voicemail, and feature to view where the other caller is located on a map, all of which Skype lacks. Skype has an extensive list of third-party plugins, but you have to install these yourself to get the same functionality that Gizmo provides out of the box.
As previously mentioned, Skype limits you to 5 callers during a conference call, unless you use a Intel processor. In Gizmo, a free service that Gizmo has partnered with. With Gizmo you can also include landlines in your conference.
Call quality, especially during conference calls, depends on the callers Internet connection, with it ranging from cell-phone quality to better than a landline. If you have more than 4 callers in a conference call, Gizmo recommends that people mute themselves when not talking to preserve call quality. Using this technique, Gizmo says that they’ve had 28 people from 11 countries talking without a drop in quality.
Learn more about Skype and Gizmo
Services
Skype and Gizmo both have pay-for services that allow you to call and receive calls from landline phones. With SkypeOut and Call Out, the respective companies services to call landline phones, you purchase in advance “credits,” which give you a certain amount of calling time depending on where you are calling. In the US, Skype and Gizmo both have flat rates, Skype’s being roughly 2.1 cents per minute, and Gizmo’s 1 cent per minute. Gizmo in fact gives you $0.25 in credits when you sign up with them! View Skype’s rate chart, and Gizmo’s rate chart.
To receive landline calls using your computer you can use Skype’s SkypeIn and Gizmo’s Call In services. Both are billed on either a 3 or 12 month basis, with Skype charging 10 and 30 Euros respectfully(approxemently 12 and 37 US dollars, respectifully) and Gizmo charging $10 and $35, respectfully. Skype includes for free their Skype Voicemail service (separately sold in 3 or 12 month increments, with 3 months: 5 Euros, and 12 months: 15 Euros) when you buy SkypeIn.
How SkypeIn and Call In work is this. When you purchase the service, you get a local phone number in a major city in a country you choose (Many cities and countries are availible, although Skype has a lead on Gizmo currently. See Gizmo’s list). Your friends/co-workers call this number and wherever you are, whether in the same country or on the other side of the world, your computer will ring. Even better, if your number is local to the callers it will be treated as a local call!
To learn more, visit the webpages for SkypeOut, SkypeIn, Call Out, and Call In.
Conclusion
NSI Partners ended up choosing Gizmo, based on its features, open-ended nature, and the future outlook for features. Call quality has ranged from adaquate to excellent, and we’ve had several dropped calls. It seems to vary based on your current network activity. Based on our experience we have so far reserved it for internal calls, instead relying on FreeConference.com for conference calls with clients.
