Skype for Verizon = Useless

[jimnutt]

I just re-installed Fring. Fring lets you make Skype calls over WiFi for free on the Droid! Where there is a will, there is a way.

Wrong...using fring and trying to then use skype you think its not using your minutes but its gotta use your phone to connect to the numbers still unless you are using sipdroid or sipgate and gizmo5. If you want to really test if its free turn on airplane mode so it turns off the cell towers, than go turn on your wifi and try making a phone call with fring it will tell you to turn on your cell tower connection since it needs a number to connect to as google voice does as well, if you want TRUE free calling looking into using Google Voice w/ Sipdroid and Gizmo5 and you can truely make free phone calls without touching verizons network. :icon_ banana:

Um, no. Skype over fring uses data, not voice. I just tested it tonight on 3g and WiFi both. You do have to have SkypeOut minutes available, so you end up paying Skype, not Verizon. Skype to Skype with fring is completely free though.

 

[jimnutt]

Bummer on wifi - I am going to be in Uganda for a few weeks this summer and was hoping to be able to call home and office via wifi and skype - there is no way to get a cell signal on my Droid.

You can use fring instead, it will work just fine on wifi

 

[KevinX]

Nimbuzz is another alternative that includes Skype, but for me it's not reliable enough for receiving calls.

 

[bblood]

Lame....really lame....

Maybe no one has noticed this yet....Skype Mobile REQUIRES you to turn off wifi before the app will start. So, no you can't use Skype mobile and fring together like you can with SkypeLite beta.

I'm back to using SkypeLite beta and fring. I hope VZW doesn't pursue this ban on voip over wifi. I, like many other droid/vzw customers travel overseas a LOT and, before I got the droid I would borrow a buddies iphone to call home with skype over wifi. I've been waiting for the official skype release ever since I got my droid and now this. I thought the lack of wifi support on the beta was due to beta software, now I see the reason is much more sinister. For you people thinking I'm trying to get something for nothing??? I've spent a LOT of money over the years as a loyal VZW customer, got the droid, which was marketed as an iphone killer/competitor, and now find that they are trying to turn this nice piece of hardware into an alarm clock while I'm travelling.....Really, VZW? Is that good marketing? If I was Steve Jobs, I would jump ALL over this POS VZW policy like South West is doing with the bags fly free ad campaign.

Wake up VZW!

Bill

 

[dragonfly1113]

Maybe no one has noticed this yet....Skype Mobile REQUIRES you to turn off wifi before the app will start. So, no you can't use Skype mobile and fring together like you can with SkypeLite beta.

I'm back to using SkypeLite beta and fring. I hope VZW doesn't pursue this ban on voip over wifi. I, like many other droid/vzw customers travel overseas a LOT and, before I got the droid I would borrow a buddies iphone to call home with skype over wifi. I've been waiting for the official skype release ever since I got my droid and now this. I thought the lack of wifi support on the beta was due to beta software, now I see the reason is much more sinister. For you people thinking I'm trying to get something for nothing??? I've spent a LOT of money over the years as a loyal VZW customer, got the droid, which was marketed as an iphone killer/competitor, and now find that they are trying to turn this nice piece of hardware into an alarm clock while I'm travelling.....Really, VZW? Is that good marketing? If I was Steve Jobs, I would jump ALL over this POS VZW policy like South West is doing with the bags fly free ad campaign.

Wake up VZW!

Bill

You sound a bit angry, does it really surprise you that verizon isnt letting customers use their network completely for free??? without having to pay a voice plan that is. They arent stupid they know that they wont lose people and they know that people that arent on forums and people that dont read the T.O.S. when first installing the app will be running up those minutes like crazy, who honestly uses all their monthly minutes anyway? i know i only use about 58 mins a month, since texting is more my thing than anything else. Hence my reasoning for going with gizmo5/google voice/ and sipdroid/sipgate alot cheaper

 

[Jonny Kansas]

My problem with the app isn't that I can't call via wifi, it's that i can't receive calls via the data network while i have wifi enabled. When I'm at home, I leave wifi on for super fast browser, facebook, twitter, buzz, EVERY other "data" app. I hate that I'll have to sacrifice the speed of all of my other apps to receive skype calls from my cousin (who might as well be my brother) that's serving overseas. Why can't it force wifi off when a call comes in, or at least notify me of an incoming call, tell me i can't use wifi, and ask if I'd like to disable it to receive the call?

 

[dragonfly1113]

My problem with the app isn't that I can't call via wifi, it's that i can't receive calls via the data network while i have wifi enabled. When I'm at home, I leave wifi on for super fast browser, facebook, twitter, buzz, EVERY other "data" app. I hate that I'll have to sacrifice the speed of all of my other apps to receive skype calls from my cousin (who might as well be my brother) that's serving overseas. Why can't it force wifi off when a call comes in, or at least notify me of an incoming call, tell me i can't use wifi, and ask if I'd like to disable it to receive the call?

Thats a damn good question and should be brought up to vzw or skype maybe they have like a suggestions area or something so that customers/users can give feedback on the app. Never thought of your scenario, good call.

 

[LordKastle]

why would steve jobs attack verizon?
apple's goal is not to attack verizon [potentially a future partner].

the war is between at&t and verizon.... not apple.

 

[bblood]

Maybe no one has noticed this yet....Skype Mobile REQUIRES you to turn off wifi before the app will start. So, no you can't use Skype mobile and fring together like you can with SkypeLite beta.

I'm back to using SkypeLite beta and fring. I hope VZW doesn't pursue this ban on voip over wifi. I, like many other droid/vzw customers travel overseas a LOT and, before I got the droid I would borrow a buddies iphone to call home with skype over wifi. I've been waiting for the official skype release ever since I got my droid and now this. I thought the lack of wifi support on the beta was due to beta software, now I see the reason is much more sinister. For you people thinking I'm trying to get something for nothing??? I've spent a LOT of money over the years as a loyal VZW customer, got the droid, which was marketed as an iphone killer/competitor, and now find that they are trying to turn this nice piece of hardware into an alarm clock while I'm travelling.....Really, VZW? Is that good marketing? If I was Steve Jobs, I would jump ALL over this POS VZW policy like South West is doing with the bags fly free ad campaign.

Wake up VZW!

Bill

You sound a bit angry, does it really surprise you that verizon isnt letting customers use their network completely for free??? without having to pay a voice plan that is. They arent stupid they know that they wont lose people and they know that people that arent on forums and people that dont read the T.O.S. when first installing the app will be running up those minutes like crazy, who honestly uses all their monthly minutes anyway? i know i only use about 58 mins a month, since texting is more my thing than anything else. Hence my reasoning for going with gizmo5/google voice/ and sipdroid/sipgate alot cheaper

Did you read my post? There is NO PLAN in....say Iraq....or lets say....Australia....Wifi is everywhere. The droid isn't a quad band phone....will NOT work at all in most other countries. BTW, I have a 1400 anytime family plan. Using your logic, what's the difference if you use unlimited data for skype, or wifi??? You have to have the data plan to have a droid....the only plan is unlimited data. Why does it matter if I use their plan or wifi for skype?? I would think they would encourage you to use wifi to keep more bandwidth available for other uses of 3G....

Whatever. Unless you spend a lot of time on the road you will never understand how truely lame this policy is.

 

[dragonfly1113]

Whatever. Unless you spend a lot of time on the road you will never understand how truely lame this policy is.

You are prob. right, i wont realize the pain until i need to call someone over seas or me myself is over seas. I sort of see what you are saying now.

 

[chudilo]

Here is a link to Verizon's own discussion SkypeMobile - Verizon | Forums and Blogs - Verizon Community
on how useless the Skype mobile with Disabled WIFI is. Everyone who is as upset about this as I am, please post in there. This was supposed to make this awesome device usable all over the world and they've killed it. At the very least they should make the skype to skype calls available when there is no reception.

 

[Atook]

...does it really surprise you that verizon isnt letting customers use their network completely for free??? without having to pay a voice plan that is.

That's one of the falacies of this policy, since using Skype over data does not use their network. I see where Verizon would want to discourage this since they can't charge for it, but I think it's a lame ploy to Skype. Hopefully Skype hasn't agreed to enforcing this on their network, and eventually alternative Skype clients will support wifi. Fact is, Verizon doesn't enforce what apps are running on the Droid (and can't on the rooted ones)

That's part of the reason I'm using android... if the demand is there, someone will build it.

BTW: I used Skype yesterday to try a couple calls, and the quality seemed fantastic, better than phone to phone even.

 

[dragonfly1113]

BTW: I used Skype yesterday to try a couple calls, and the quality seemed fantastic, better than phone to phone even.

Yes call quality is much better with skype too bad they have them restrictions :icon_evil:

 

[fegul]

A little OT and I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed this recently but Google Voice and the Skype app don't play well together. If you have GV set to be used for all calls, you cannot make calls to other Skype users but you can receive them.

 

[dragonfly1113]

A little OT and I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed this recently but Google Voice and the Skype app don't play well together. If you have GV set to be used for all calls, you cannot make calls to other Skype users but you can receive them.

That is correct, not sure if you saw it earlier in this thread or there are about 3 others in this same forum going about skype but someone else did mention that as well.