Skype has some social problems.

What if all voice telephony was free? Well it’s pretty much free today. How do we adapt?

I often get calls on my mobile phone where the callerID is just “Call”. That’s usually from Skype. I often don’t want to answer even though I know it’s probably a friend.

The problem with Skype.. and inexpensive telephony:

• If there is no (real) cost or it’s very inexpensive we tend to yap. There is no need to end the call. It’s like calling a meeting without proposing an agenda.
• I don’t like to yap on my mobile phone in general.
• Skype-Out quality is not great. In fact it’s very frustrating when people phone from Skype to your mobile phone. It’s like talking to that woman from Police Academy in a noisy room with some extra latency.
• There is often a disconnect between environments and moods. One party is chilling at a desk with a headset on, the other is busy and out and about in environments where it’s not always a good idea to have long telephone conversations.

Hey, it’s a cool technology.. all I’m saying is, think about the secondary impact. Find ways to make the technology fit.