On Nov 25, 8:43*pm, JohnH wrote:
On Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:11:34 -0800 (PST), Frogwatch

wrote:
Slate has an article extolling Skype. *However, whenever someone calls
me on Skype I almost always can tell due to the poor sound quality so
I tell them to hang up and call me back on a real phone. *If they have
a real reason to talk to me they can pay to use a real phone.

Skype is free, so you get what you pay for. I've a friend in St.
Petersburg, Russia and one in the Netherlands, both of whom I frequently
talk with. I've never had a problem. Lately I've been conversing with
another friend in LA, CA, again with no problem.

But, I've not tried calling a land line with Skype. Maybe that's where the
problem comes in. It may be like VOIP, which usually has a bunch of extra
static in the line - not horrible, but there and a little bothersome.
--
A Harry Krause truism:

"It's not a *baby* kicking, beautiful bride, it's just a fetus!"

My work BellSouth line has more static than ANY VOIP I've heard! I've
called them, had them come look at the PBX, etc. and they say it's as
good as it will get.