Hi All, I face some problems when I try to introduce Asterisk to my customers / friends. They are not convince as they are currently using Skype and asking me what is/are the different between this two. Does anyone in the community can provide such a comparison chart? What's your opinion ? Thanks and Regards, Stephen
First, search the archives for skype. This question has come up before. Second, learn what skype is and how it works. Ditto for asterisk. See the respective websites and read the faqs there... The two are COMPLETELY different. One is a software pbx. The other is not. It's like comparing a car to a banana. On Sat, Mar 26, 2005 at 02:38:30AM +0800, Stephen said:> Hi All, > > I face some problems when I try to introduce Asterisk to my customers / > friends. > > They are not convince as they are currently using Skype and asking me > what is/are the different between this two. > > Does anyone in the community can provide such a comparison chart? > > What's your opinion ? > > Thanks and Regards, > Stephen > > _______________________________________________ > Asterisk-Users mailing list > Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com > http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users > To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: > http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
They're two different animals. Skype is a protocol and a flashy UI, and PSTN calls are limited to their proprietary gateway (costing however much they want to charge). Asterisk is a full-featured PBX which can utilize many different protocols, different soft- or hardphones, and any PSTN gateway you like, so you can expect competitive pricing. Asking to compare * with Skype is akin to comparing "The Internet" with "FTP". Skype's functionality is a subset of asterisk's functionality.> -----Original Message----- > From: Stephen [mailto:myvoip@gmail.com] > Sent: Friday, March 25, 2005 12:39 PM > To: asterisk-users@lists.digium.com > Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Asterisk compare with Skype > > > Hi All, > > I face some problems when I try to introduce Asterisk to my > customers / > friends. > > They are not convince as they are currently using Skype and asking me > what is/are the different between this two. > > Does anyone in the community can provide such a comparison chart? > > What's your opinion ? > > Thanks and Regards, > Stephen
Stephen wrote:> Hi All, > > I face some problems when I try to introduce Asterisk to my customers / > friends. > > They are not convince as they are currently using Skype and asking me > what is/are the different between this two. > > Does anyone in the community can provide such a comparison chart? > > What's your opinion ? >It comes down to one thing in the final analysis: open versus closed (proprietary) models. It's no big secret that the "Skype way" is a lot like the "Microsoft way" in that they want everyone using their proprietary system, because to the degree they "own" the market they can totally dictate to their customers what is going to be done, how much it's going to cost, etc. Beyond that, what kind of records do they keep internally of their users' behavior? What kinds of other things on their users' machines do they track? Of course the answer is "No one knows," because it's all closed and secret. They even keep secret the methods they use to allow peers to find one another. I'm sure you know that Kazaa users were recently surprised to learn, as it came out in court over in Europe, that centralized records have been kept of everyone's Kazaa usage from the get-go. Nice to know in case the RIAA ever comes looking for people. What kinds of similar things does Skype do? No one knows. Finally, when you go the open route you have choice. If I don't like my softphone for whatever reason, there are a dozen others to choose from. If my ITSP has service problems, or customer service problems, then it's a trivial task for me to sign up with another one. I can also shop rates. We learned in the legacy telephone world how bad monopolies are when it comes to price, features, innovation, etc. Why would consumers then move to a similar model when they migrate to VoIP? Answer: slick marketing on Skype's part, as well as herd mindset. There are many reasons to stay clear of Skype. B.
Hi All, Thanks for all the comments and opinions. I think in terms of features and flexibility , Asterisk is better than Skype. But in terms simplicity, Skype is better. The problem I face is to switch Skype users to use Asterisk. Some of them use Skype for business use (on-net call) and they said Skype is enough for their business use already and find no need to use IP PBX. I think probably I need to educate them what Skype is and what Asterisk is. Maybe Asterisk community need to come up with a management system that can manage Asterisk in much simple way. We have to work harder to outshine Skype . : ) Cheers, Stephen
On Saturday 26 March 2005 05:38, Stephen wrote:> Hi All, > > Thanks for all the comments and opinions. > > I think in terms of features and flexibility , Asterisk is better than > Skype. But in terms simplicity, Skype is better. > The problem I face is to switch Skype users to use Asterisk. Some of > them use Skype for business use (on-net call) and they said Skype is > enough for their business use already and find no need to use IP PBX. > > I think probably I need to educate them what Skype is and what Asterisk is. > > Maybe Asterisk community need to come up with a management system that > can manage Asterisk in much simple way. > > We have to work harder to outshine Skype . : )This link http://www.privaterra.org/blog-rg/two_good_analyses_of_skype_voice_over_ip__voip_.html has 2 very good papers on the internal workings of Skype. Bit of an overkill for a non-geek customer. PAulH -- Paul Hewlett (Linux #359543) Tel: +27 21 852 8812 Cel: +27 72 719 2725 Fax: +27 86 672 0563 --
Well not entirely skype has had conferencing for a long time and they also have run beta trials on skype voicemail but have chosen not to implement it commercially yet. I don't see the point of this discussion. Skype is the pstn service; Asterisk is a pabx; No one ran around telling ma bell she needed to give pabx like features to the pstn service. Let the thread die. Dean -----Original Message----- From: asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com [mailto:asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Brian Capouch Sent: Saturday, March 26, 2005 3:50 AM To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion Subject: Re: [Asterisk-Users] Asterisk compare with Skype Paul Fielding wrote:> > You bet we have to work harder to outshine Skype. I'm all over that.> But we've got bigger shoes to fill than some people realize.... >The reverse is true, as well, as was pointed out earlier on this thread. Asterisk could do the high-quality voice if it didn't care about interoperability. Skype lacks voicemail, CDRs, queues, IVRs, conferencing, music on hold; the list goes on and on. B. _______________________________________________ Asterisk-Users mailing list Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users