I’ve had this multiple times in the past but this week I had yet another customer who purchased a USB Skype adaptor thinking that would be simple to use and would reduce their phone bills. I decided to blog about it to hopefully prevent others from making the same mistake.

Skype adaptors seem like a really good idea… provided you have no clue about VoIP.

The downfall my customer had was that they’re running Windows 7 64bit and the adaptor they purchased while it stated “Compatible with Windows 7” did not mention that the manufacturer does not release 64bit drivers. So my customer either needs to downgrade to a 32bit operating system or to get a real VoIP solution.

Thats not the start of the issues with these adaptors though. Any Internet based telephone device will require a connection to the Internet – and in short if your device connects via USB, you require your computer to be on whenever you wish to use the device.

Another downfall with Skype is interoperability. As Skype own all rights to the audio and video codecs they use, and they own all rights to the encryption technology they use, nobody knows how to communicate with Skype – other than Skype. Also if Skype for one reason or another jacked up their prices or completely disappeared, any Skype based hardware may not work with alternate services.

Finally, nobody in Australia seems to consider that Skype servers are located in America and even if you use Skype to call an Australian phone number, you may as well be making an International call (as the latency is very high).

These downfalls are quite different to the SIP based VoIP adaptors and ethernet phones I sell & support, as the solutions I push do not require a computer at all – just an ethernet connection to your broadband Internet service. It makes you wonder why and how Skype remains so popular.