Chapter 15 Future Skype-Enabled Devices

Overview

With all the hype about Skype, we can expect companies to continue introducing new products, both software add-ons and hardware that will exploit Skype’s existing capabilities and give us even more features and capabilities. In this chapter, we discuss some up-and-coming products as well as some “wish list” items based on hundreds of inquiries from www.SkypeTips.com and our many conversations with vendors that ask us to evaluate their products and provide feedback. We really enjoy doing these reviews because it allows us to recommend the products others can apply to their particular needs.

The Skype community is a close-knit one that shares ideas, testing, comments, and of course, opinions on the growing number of products that are being marketed to work with Skype. These vendors all want you to buy their products. We have included this chapter to not only let you, the reader, know what is coming, but to also spawn new ideas for future Skype-related products.

Skype Routers (ATAs)

One of the most frequent questions I receive as part of providing help to users who visit www.SkypeTips.com is, “Is there is a device that allows you to use Skype without having to leave your computer turned on?” Unfortunately, the answer is “Not yet.” What people are looking for is a device similar to what Vonage, Packedt8, AT&T CallVantage, Time Warner Digital phone, and other VoIP providers use to connect you to the Internet without a computer. These devices are called analog telephone adapters, or ATAs for short. Vonage refers to its ATA as a digital phone adapter. Basically, an ATA is a device you attach to your network that will convert what comes in from the Internet to a regular telephone communication. The following graphic shows a typical VoIP configuration with an ATA.

If you have not already purchased a P2P-friendly DSL/cable router that we suggested many times throughout this book, now you have a reason to get one. A DSL/cable router allows you not only to have multiple computers sharing your broadband connection and provides you 802.11g wireless; but you can use it to connect a Skype router or Skype ATA when they become available, without having to change or add anything.

This device for Skype would be a little different than those used for the other ATA products we mentioned; the Skype router will basically need to be a little PC that can be configured with one or more contacts so that it can send and receive Skype calls.

More than likely, this device will either have embedded Linux or Windows running as the operating system, with enough memory to handle what Skype needs. You would most likely configure it using your Web browser.

When a Skype router or ATA is available, it might not have all the functions that you have with Skype on your computer. It will be dedicated to Skype calls only and have basic options as they relate only to Skype calls. It might be able to do call forwarding and other dial-in and dial-out features, as some Skype telephone gateways can.

Potential Users

Possible users of Skype routers/ATAs are:

• Home users
• Small businesses
• Medium-sized businesses

Skype-Enabled Telephones

The term Skype-enabled is meant to indicate a device that has all the functions that allow you to use Skype calls without looking at your computer. This means that you can see your Skype contacts on the telephone display and can make and receive Skype calls without any interaction with your computer other than initially plugging in the Skype device. The Dualphone, Linksys CIT200, and VoSky (Actiontec) USB phone covered in Chapter 8 are examples of fully Skype-enabled devices. This is an area that is just now starting to take off. Vendors are shifting from the development and testing phase, in which we have participated for several products, into full-scale production.

A Skype-enabled phone is any type of telephone that has software or firmware that allows you to use it for a Skype call without having to look at your computer. When you look at the display, you should see all your Skype contacts, be able to select one, and then press a button to place the call, just as though you were using a regular old telephone—it must be so easy that my grandmother could use it! These telephones should have volume-boosting capabilities, necessary to compensate for any signal degradation that could occur.

Potential Users

Possible users of Skype-enabled phones are:

• Home users
• Small businesses
• Medium-sized businesses

Understanding the Basics … Skype-Enabled Telephones

These telephones are perfect for users who do not want to use Skype on a computer. They are as easy to use as any telephone and enable users to enjoy the benefits of Skype.

Skype-Enabled Cordless Telephones

Cordless phones like the Dualphone and Linksys CIT200 will become increasingly popular because they are perfect for the home and small business user. They can come with or without built-in answering machines. Some Skype-enabled cordless phones like the Dualphone will be able to connect to both your computer (for Skype calls), and to the ‘regular’ telephone company line (landline), or other VoIP provider, so that you can use the same phone for both services. The Linksys CIT200 connects directly to your computer but does not have the option to connect to your existing telephone line. Some devices will allow incoming Skype voice calls to be forwarded to the landline, and vice versa (i.e. to act as a gateway), and others will only interact with Skype.

To use a Skype-enabled phone, you would locate the base unit near your main computer and connect it to an available USB port. The cordless handset can then be located/used wherever convenient. This could be particularly convenient when traveling with a laptop and operating from a hotel room.

Potential Users

Possible users of Skype-enabled cordless phones are:

• Home users
• Small businesses
• Medium-sized businesses

Understanding the Basics …
Skype-Enabled Cordless Telephones

These telephones are perfect for users who do not want to use Skype on a computer, because the devices are as easy to use as any telephone, offer the benefits of Skype, and provide the portability we have become accustomed to with cordless telephones. These are perfect for the traveler with a laptop who doesn’t want a USB cable to limit his or her movement.

Skype WiFi Telephones

This is one of my favorite areas for a Skype telephone. A Skype WiFi telephone will look like a cell phone and most likely come in all flavors and colors, very similar to the USB phones we discussed in Chapter 8 or just like your cell phone—or better yet built into your cell phone.

The idea behind a Skype WiFi telephone is that so much WiFi, predominantly 802.11b and 802.11g, is available in airports, hotels, coffee shops, trade shows, city centers, and other public hot spots that if you sign up for a service like Boingo that has partnered with Skype, you could easily make free Skype calls from any wireless hot spot. Locators for many WiFi hot spots, including Boingo, are included in Chapter 10 for your convenience. See “A Skype Wish List”, later in this chapter, for a description of my ultimate Skype WiFi device.

Companies that have large factories and are WiFi enabled could use Skype WiFi telephones much like the Sprint Nextel two-way phones to reach anyone at the location, with a potential cost savings.

Home Users

The home user who has a broadband router with 802.11g wireless would be a good candidate for a Skype WiFi phone. If you already have a cordless telephone unit at home, why would you replace it with a Skype-enabled version until it broke or became obsolete?

With Skype WiFi phone, you could just add one or two of these units around the house if your wireless coverage was good enough to make and receive Skype calls or anywhere wireless is available with a decent signal. I have a daughter, and although she is only six now, I see her one day having one in her room so she can roam freely and keep my phone line open for normal home use.

Small Businesses

Small businesses can utilize a Skype WiFi phone in much the same way a home user does, with the added benefit of significantly reducing long distance phone bills and enabling employees to travel or roam about WiFi hot spots, like the world-famous Starbucks or your nearest airport.

Many small businesses struggle with controlling costs, and if they need to call suppliers or do telemarketing to potential clients, they will rack up significant phone bills. One of Skype’s best benefits is reducing long distance calls for small businesses.

The key is to have a flexible phone that can be placed anywhere in the small business and work well. Of course, here is another promotion for using 802.11g wireless: a Skype WiFi phone that can be placed on your desk, next to your regular desk telephone.

Medium-Sized to Large Businesses

Medium-sized businesses would benefit from using Skype WiFi phones. Building on the examples we used for the home user and small businesses, medium-sized businesses would have more applications and large cost benefits due to the sheer volume of users.

Warehouse, shipping departments, guard shacks, collections, and telemarketing departments could all benefit from reduced local toll and long distance and cell phone costs. The larger the company, the higher its cell phone bills.

There is a definite need for cell phones—I could not live without mine—but with a Skype WiFi phone, I could attend conference calls, make calls from the airport or hotels and, of course, Starbucks, and in turn reduce my cell minutes, allowing me to get a less expensive plan. I do business worldwide and had a recent experience in Canada with my cell plan not covering calls from Canada—I spent a bundle on calls.

Of course, there is a major requirement in that you must have access to a wireless network to use a Skype WiFi phone, but WiFi is virtually everywhere, and if you had one of these Skype WiFi phones, you would soon know and use WiFi hot spots. Check out our extensive list of WiFi hot spot Web sites in Chapter 10.

Skype-Enabled Cell Phones

If you are like me, a dedicated and addicted cell phone user, you read the Skype WiFi phone section and said, “I don’t want another phone.” Well, what if your cell phone has wireless built in and could operate in either cell or WiFi mode, or both?

You would have the best of both worlds and would not have to carry an additional device to make Skype calls, instead using your cell phone even when you do not have wireless access. I can tell you that several vendors already have or have in the planning a Skype WiFi/cell phone.

The i-mate PDA2 and PDA2K and JAM Pocket PC phones are the first examples of a cell phone/WiFi Skype phone combination. These are Pocket PCs, but Skype comes with the device. (We discuss the i-mate devices in Chapter 8.) Motorola has also announced a VoIP-enabled WiFi cell phone. This is perfect for those who use a cell phone over a Pocket PC device and want to be able to use Skype over WiFi.

Many cell phone providers offer high-speed Internet offerings for their cell users for phones that have mini-browsers, downloading movies, news, sports clips, and the like. These services are also capable of good Skype calls; several users have called me and the calls sounded fine, but this high-speed Internet option for cell phones is much more costly than WiFi hot spots. So just be aware that they are not the same service, and charges may vary. Decide what is best for your needs.

Potential Users

Possible users of Skype-enabled cell phones are:

• Home users
• Small businesses
• Medium-sized businesses
• Corporations

Skype USB Telephones

USB phones in their current state are missing many of the functions that they need. I know from talking with the vendors of several USB phones that improvements that I recommended during evaluations are already in the works. VoSky USB phone is truly Skype-enabled. The Linksys CIT200 is also Skype enabled as well as USB connected and cordless. Generally speaking, the typical USB telephone is inexpensive and has a cord.

Most importantly, USB telephones have cords, and, like many people, unless I am working at my desk, I prefer the freedom to roam around, multitasking as I see fit. So as far as I am concerned the cord has got to go. So look for more companies coming out with devices similar to the Linksys CIT200 and Siemens Gigaset M34 adapter. USB phones will become more Skype-aware, with their displays showing you all your Skype contacts, allowing you to make and receive Skype calls without using your computer or interrupting your work.

In addition, it would be advantageous if USB phones included a built-in speaker phone which would free up the user’s hands to take notes while in a conference call, for example. Many of my clients’ conference rooms have computers to control the display system, and connecting a USB conference telephone to such a computer would also be practical for medium-sized business and corporate users.

Potential Users

Possible users for Skype USB phones are:

• Home users
• Small businesses
• Medium-sized businesses
• Corporations

Skype PBX Gateways

Here is the true device that small to large businesses want: Gateways between Skype and Private Branch Exchanges (PBXs). Several vendors are developing Skype PBX gateway devices which will permit a user on a PBX to make Skype or SkypeOut calls, and which will allow an incoming Skype or SkypeIn call to be routed to the PBX user’s phone.

These devices would connect to an open PBX Foreign eXchange Office (FXO) interface and then to the Internet in a way that is similar to a Skype ATA or Skype router, and as discussed in Chapter 8. The following picture depicts a typical PBX setup.

The Skype gateway always sits between the PBX and the Internet, and provides a method for routing incoming Skype calls via the PBX directly to the phone on the user’s desk phone. Normal functionality of the PBX and the way it interacts with the existing telephone services would not change. The capability to use Skype would be added as an additional telephone feature. The following picture illustrates a Skype gateway with this type of configuration.

A Skype PBX gateway would provide a company bi-directional Skype voice-call capability which would mimic calls to and from the regular telephone network, and which would avoid quality issues, delays, and relays that would most likely be associated with Skype calls over a complex, firewalled, corporate data network (see discussion in Chapter 13). The corporate user would typically dial a single digit number (e.g. 7) to access Skype, thus employing the same familiar sequence already being used to access an ‘outside’ telephone line (i.e. by dialing 9). Then the user would be able to make free Skype-to-Skype, or inexpensive long-distance SkypeOut calls. Speed-dialing would be fully supported, and this could be used to easily access a Skype user who is acting in a standard Help Desk capacity, as was discussed in Chapter 12. Additionally, a company could set up several Skype accounts, ‘Company_XYZ_Support’ for example, which could provide Internet users using Skype the ability to be routed to the Help Desk for Company XYZ without incurring long-distance fees. Also, this type of gateway could be used to for inter-branch calls, conference calls, or calls to any number of locations around the world, either for free or less expensively than using traditional 800 services or long distance plans.

A Skype PBX gateway would provide these common features:

• Connect to your company PBX and take advantage of Skype, SkypeIn, and SkypeOut services.
• Employees can use SkypeOut for low-rate calls.
• Customers can use regular phones to call your SkypeIn number for local call service.
• A Skype user on a computer can call customer service for free.
• Integrate with PSTN switches; no need to change existing telephone systems.
• No need to change the firewall or the network.
• Independent host; no need to use another computer.
• Scalable; directly plug in another one to expand the capacity.

Potential Users

Possible users of Skype PBX gateways are:

• Small businesses
• Medium-sized businesses
• Corporations

A Skype Wish List

In addition to those described previously in this chapter, the only product I would like to see is the SkypePod.

SkypePod?

I have suggested to all my Apple/Mac-user friends that Apple should release a Skype-enabled iPod with wireless capabilities and a headset jack, so all of us iPodders can make Skype calls when we are near a WiFi hot spot. Plug in a speakerphone and imagine how cool it would be to use an iPod in your home or business to participate in a conference call.

If you took the new iPod Nano and placed it in the form factor of the original iPod, it would be perfect for a SkypePod—or easier said, a “SkyPod” device. If Apple used the iPod Nano or iPod Shuffle electronics in the larger iPod body, there would be room for a wireless card and the additional microphone/headset components. So, Mr. Jobs, if your people read this and you develop the SkyPod, I get ten of them for free! Every Skyper I know who also uses an iPod would buy one of these in a heartbeat. So would every teenager and young adult who is a hardcore iPod user. You heard it here first … I coined the terms SkypePod, SkyPod, and SkypePodders.

SkypePod Video?

Of course, with the iPod now supporting video clips, you could add a small camera like the ones we see in cell phones. With the upcoming addition of Skype Video, Apple could add the Skype Video add-on to the SkyPod, allowing for SkyPod-to-Skype video calls. Then these little devices like a Pocket PC could make video calls as well. So add SkyPod video to our coined terms. Your teenagers and “hip” young adults and us true Skypers would love this type of device—and be able to have our iTunes to boot.

Potential Users

Possible users of SkypePods are:

• Home users
• Businesses
• Travelers