Skype vs Gizmo Project

VoIP technology has been around for awhile now. Big players in the enterprise market make good products, but for the consumer choices have been limited, until now. Vontage and other monthly subscription models don't work for those who own cell phones, because it doesn't make sense to pay for both services. I have been using a free service called Skype for a few months now and it seems to be the most popular VoIP technology today. Gizmo project is on its heals though and I am sure Vontage does not like the free provides to be in the press.

Gizmo has some of the same functionality as Skype, but it adds SIP compliance standards so you can use a call in service, much like a pager and connect to my SIP number from your cell phone or landline. Skype offers callin for a fee in order to have a regular phone number on their service. I like gizmo since it records calls (podcasters pay attention) and it seems to have a better interface.

Outbound calls are measured in Dollars for Gizmo and in Euros for Skype. So if you need to make calls to a land line or cell phone you can purchase blocks of time.

Both services offer flexibility and if you can get your friends and family on Skype or Gizmo then all calls are free over your broadband connection.

Quality can vary, but I did test it with someone in Kiev on a dial up connection. It sounded ok, but broadband is recommended.

I will post a more thorough evaluation as I play with each service.

Tag me:
skype
gizmo