Skip to main content
Telecoms blocking Skype?

I chaired a conference call today on an AT&T service. As people were joining (typically about 20 attendees join this regularly scheduled call), we were suddenly treated to a high-pitched squeal (remember 300baud modem carrier tones? like that!!). After about a minute of all conversation being overwhelmed by this interference, it disappeared. We began our meeting and a minute later the squeal returned, but only for 20-30 seconds.

One of the attendees mentioned that this seemed to occur when someone dialed into AT&T calls using Skype. A moment later, one of the attendees confessed that he HAD joined the call using Skype.

This led to speculation that AT&T's conference service might be blocking Skype users by using this tactic.

I'd be interested to hear whether anyone else has had similar experiences with AT&T or other conference service providers.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

InfoWorld published this excellent brief overview video on cloud computing. Worth a look if you're in the dark about the cloud!
My First Google Wave I got my invitation to Google Wave on Friday and finally had a few minutes to check it out last night and today.  Started my first wave on "cloud computing."  Seems fitting to discuss the topic in a new, cloud-based collaboration platform.  Of course, I continue to have dialogs on cloud computing in other media, but couldn't resist trying out Google Wave with such a fitting topic. Right now I've only got about 5 colleagues in Google Wave along with me, but that'll grow over the next few days.  I'll post more observations as my community grows and I have more reasons to work in the environment. Meanwhile, I'm in it and learning my way around.  Stay tuned!
Verizon, Motorola unveil the Droid | Signal Strength - CNET News : "NEW YORK--Verizon Wireless customers will soon be able to get their hands on the much anticipated Google Android phone called the Droid." I have to say, I'm impressed by the features. The Droid is almost compelling enough to pull me away from AT&T and the promise that (eventually) my wife will let me buy an iPhone (she already has hers ;) ). I say almost because, while the software side of the Droid (Google Android 2.0) shows promise as a formidable competitor to the iPhone OS (some might call it "Mac OS X mobile edition"), it still lacks the industrial design elegance and comprehensive hardware/software integration of the iPhone. I worry about the hardiness and longevity of devices with so many mechanical elements (full qwerty keyboard, slide out screen). The iPhone has only two hardware switches, no other moving parts, and so not much that's subject to wear. Still, the Droid has...