Opinion: 3 (Vodafone/Hutchison) pulls a fast one on Skype users, beware!
by Ted Mc from BlindMind.net, 8 Mar 2010
Mobile phone owners wanting to try out recently released mobile versions of Skype on their smartphones could be in for a nasty surprise depending on how and where they get the software from.
Using S60 3rd & 5th edition handsets as an example on on the 3 (Hutchison) network in Australia, if you browse to the Skype download page (http://www.skype.com/m) while connected to Three's internet service on your phone, instead of arriving at Skype's website, you are greeted by a Three web page advising you to "download Skype from 3".
Immediately suspicious, and already in possession of a copy of Skype downloaded directly from their website, I went through the process of getting and installing the version from Three to see what this was all about.
The firs thing I noticed was that the Three version of Skype was only 1.8mb, compared to the rather hefty 5.6mb file obtained directly from Skype. Still trying to reserve judgment, I thought perhaps my carrier was shouldering some of the resource load of Skype by running some components of it on their own servers to improve the customer experience. Hey, stop laughing! It could have happened! On Planet Non-Rippus-Offus, maybe, but not on Planet Three.
What I found was a cut down version of Skype missing many of the configuration options of the full-size client, and most notably, minus the ability to make calls to telephone numbers, instead allowing you to only call other Skype users who are logged in to Skype at the time. Even if you have telephone numbers also assigned to users in your contact list in your Skype account at home, you won't have access to them in Three's world. Personally, I think they should have to call their cut-down copy of the software "Ska-hype"!
And hey, lest anyone think that I'm carrier-bashing, I have no problem with the business decision to force customers to use only that carrier's carriageway to landlines & mobile phones not connected to Skype, just as I respect a provider's business decision to allow or not allow the use of calling cards or discount prefixes that re-route long distance or international traffic through a local telephone switch, therefore basically accomplishing the same goal of Skype, which is significantly cheaper calls. I get it. Cost models are based on blah-blah-blah, and we have to recoup blah-blah-blah percentage of investment expenditure so that we can still offer you a service at $2 cheaper than our competitors, and so our CEO can still have his huge annual bonus, even though you as a customer still have to struggle explaining and re-explaining your problem to someone halfway around the world whose first language isn't yours.
I get all of that. I realize there are choices, and I could opt to go with someone else if it really bothers me that much. It's not the business decision that I have a problem with.
What I do have a problem with is the way they go about it. Hijacking a third parties' website, and showing their own message there instead, simply stating to "download Skype from 3". And when you do go to do so, there's no mention of the fact that their copy is any different from what you can get directly from the maker of the software. In fact, unless you go and download it while using a WIFI connection rather than the internet service supplied by Three, you'd never know there WAS more than one version of the software.
And while there very well may be fine print in the terms and conditions of my mobile service agreement with respect to the use of discounted or use of any 'other' telecommunications services in conjunction with mine (I'm trying to locate my agreement to scrutinize this), there is certainly no mention of altering or otherwise hindering my right to use the internet service I pay for with them. Further, who's to say I would even use it on Three's data bundle, and not simply on my WIFI network? So now they're trying to regulate not only what I do on their internet plan, but on my home internet service as well? If they're going to carve up & customize Skype to suit their own purposes, can they not at least differentiate between traffic on their own network, and my home internet service which contains no such restrictions on being able to make VOIP calls? To me, this is the real crux of the matter, and the real reason Vodafone/Hutchison/Three would rather not discuss it too much....in their zeal to make sure they're not getting screwed out of any dollars, they're willing to totally inconvenience and deceive the customer until their legal department gets it all worked out and marketing gets it all productized. Mark my words, Skype/VOIP calls' days are numbered.
And it highlights an even bigger problem. If Skype is able to offer an equivalent, and sometimes superior, lower cost service that works over existing mobile phones, why have the mobile carriers been so slow to offer us something along these lines? It's been possible for years. And I'm afraid the answer is a simple one. Greed. Vodafone/Hutchison are currently running ads on TV in Australia offering "free unlimited Skype to Skype calls in Australia until 30th April", implying that not only do they not let you make inexpensive Skype to telephone calls, but that they are likely to add a bundle price for the right to call even other Skype users in the coming months, removing it altogether from the rest of standard internet traffic, and charging a premium for the privilege.
I guess it boils down to, if you're going to cripple someone's right to somehow getting a slightly better deal and save a few bucks (while still paying a handsome monthly fee in the process, mind you), you should have to say so as a carrier. It should be plainly documented in marketing materials, and be part of the voice recordings they force you to agree to at the time you contract yourself to their service. And if you didn't buy a data bundle at the time you bought your phone service, and add one later, they should have to make it plain at that point, too, so that consumers can make a truly informed decision.
It reminds me of internet providers who offer radically cheap or overly-generous data allowances to lure you in, but do everything in their power NOT to tell you that they oversubscribe their network by 100:1 or 200:1 during peak times, rather than a more standard and acceptable 50:1-80:1. "Yeah, sure you can download 125gb per month on our ADSL, though with the speed of our network, you'll be lucky to break 50".
They are banking on the average uninformed user not knowing any better and just "going along", rather than being upfront about their particular business model and letting us as consumers choose what type of provider we are willing to settle for based on the cost and quality of the provided service.
And to say one thing in their defense, we haven't given them any reason to second-guess this practice, so why would we expect them to volunteer it?
Fine, but if they're not going to volunteer to tell me they've removed functionality from the software that can save me a little bit of money, then I'm not going to volunteer and tell them I'm doing it anyway.
So until your mobile carrier changes their T&C's and finds a way to block you from doing so, take it from me. Don't get your copy of Skype from them. Jump on your WIFI on your mobile, and download it directly from Skype. Or get it here!
Of course, if your carrier's T&C's do prohibit the use of VOIP or other use of another provider's service in conjunction to the one they're selling you, but just haven't found a way to block you from using the full version of Skype, then you use it at your own risk, so be warned.
To download Skype from BlindMind.net, use your PC to browse to our S60 DOWNLOADS page, copy the setup file to your phone & install, or use Ovi Suite to install to your device.
Mobile phone owners wanting to try out recently released mobile versions of Skype on their smartphones could be in for a nasty surprise depending on how and where they get the software from.
Using S60 3rd & 5th edition handsets as an example on on the 3 (Hutchison) network in Australia, if you browse to the Skype download page (http://www.skype.com/m) while connected to Three's internet service on your phone, instead of arriving at Skype's website, you are greeted by a Three web page advising you to "download Skype from 3".
Immediately suspicious, and already in possession of a copy of Skype downloaded directly from their website, I went through the process of getting and installing the version from Three to see what this was all about.
The firs thing I noticed was that the Three version of Skype was only 1.8mb, compared to the rather hefty 5.6mb file obtained directly from Skype. Still trying to reserve judgment, I thought perhaps my carrier was shouldering some of the resource load of Skype by running some components of it on their own servers to improve the customer experience. Hey, stop laughing! It could have happened! On Planet Non-Rippus-Offus, maybe, but not on Planet Three.
What I found was a cut down version of Skype missing many of the configuration options of the full-size client, and most notably, minus the ability to make calls to telephone numbers, instead allowing you to only call other Skype users who are logged in to Skype at the time. Even if you have telephone numbers also assigned to users in your contact list in your Skype account at home, you won't have access to them in Three's world. Personally, I think they should have to call their cut-down copy of the software "Ska-hype"!
And hey, lest anyone think that I'm carrier-bashing, I have no problem with the business decision to force customers to use only that carrier's carriageway to landlines & mobile phones not connected to Skype, just as I respect a provider's business decision to allow or not allow the use of calling cards or discount prefixes that re-route long distance or international traffic through a local telephone switch, therefore basically accomplishing the same goal of Skype, which is significantly cheaper calls. I get it. Cost models are based on blah-blah-blah, and we have to recoup blah-blah-blah percentage of investment expenditure so that we can still offer you a service at $2 cheaper than our competitors, and so our CEO can still have his huge annual bonus, even though you as a customer still have to struggle explaining and re-explaining your problem to someone halfway around the world whose first language isn't yours.
I get all of that. I realize there are choices, and I could opt to go with someone else if it really bothers me that much. It's not the business decision that I have a problem with.
What I do have a problem with is the way they go about it. Hijacking a third parties' website, and showing their own message there instead, simply stating to "download Skype from 3". And when you do go to do so, there's no mention of the fact that their copy is any different from what you can get directly from the maker of the software. In fact, unless you go and download it while using a WIFI connection rather than the internet service supplied by Three, you'd never know there WAS more than one version of the software.
And while there very well may be fine print in the terms and conditions of my mobile service agreement with respect to the use of discounted or use of any 'other' telecommunications services in conjunction with mine (I'm trying to locate my agreement to scrutinize this), there is certainly no mention of altering or otherwise hindering my right to use the internet service I pay for with them. Further, who's to say I would even use it on Three's data bundle, and not simply on my WIFI network? So now they're trying to regulate not only what I do on their internet plan, but on my home internet service as well? If they're going to carve up & customize Skype to suit their own purposes, can they not at least differentiate between traffic on their own network, and my home internet service which contains no such restrictions on being able to make VOIP calls? To me, this is the real crux of the matter, and the real reason Vodafone/Hutchison/Three would rather not discuss it too much....in their zeal to make sure they're not getting screwed out of any dollars, they're willing to totally inconvenience and deceive the customer until their legal department gets it all worked out and marketing gets it all productized. Mark my words, Skype/VOIP calls' days are numbered.
And it highlights an even bigger problem. If Skype is able to offer an equivalent, and sometimes superior, lower cost service that works over existing mobile phones, why have the mobile carriers been so slow to offer us something along these lines? It's been possible for years. And I'm afraid the answer is a simple one. Greed. Vodafone/Hutchison are currently running ads on TV in Australia offering "free unlimited Skype to Skype calls in Australia until 30th April", implying that not only do they not let you make inexpensive Skype to telephone calls, but that they are likely to add a bundle price for the right to call even other Skype users in the coming months, removing it altogether from the rest of standard internet traffic, and charging a premium for the privilege.
I guess it boils down to, if you're going to cripple someone's right to somehow getting a slightly better deal and save a few bucks (while still paying a handsome monthly fee in the process, mind you), you should have to say so as a carrier. It should be plainly documented in marketing materials, and be part of the voice recordings they force you to agree to at the time you contract yourself to their service. And if you didn't buy a data bundle at the time you bought your phone service, and add one later, they should have to make it plain at that point, too, so that consumers can make a truly informed decision.
It reminds me of internet providers who offer radically cheap or overly-generous data allowances to lure
They are banking on the average uninformed user not knowing any better and just "going along", rather than being upfront about their particular business model and letting us as consumers choose what type of provider we are willing to settle for based on the cost and quality of the provided service.
And to say one thing in their defense, we haven't given them any reason to second-guess this practice, so why would we expect them to volunteer it?
Fine, but if they're not going to volunteer to tell me they've removed functionality from the software that can save me a little bit of money, then I'm not going to volunteer and tell them I'm doing it anyway.
So until your mobile carrier changes their T&C's and finds a way to block you from doing so, take it from me. Don't get your copy of Skype from them. Jump on your WIFI on your mobile, and download it directly from Skype. Or get it here!
Of course, if your carrier's T&C's do prohibit the use of VOIP or other use of another provider's service in conjunction to the one they're selling you, but just haven't found a way to block you from using the full version of Skype, then you use it at your own risk, so be warned.
To download Skype from BlindMind.net, use your PC to browse to our S60 DOWNLOADS page, copy the setup file to your phone & install, or use Ovi Suite to install to your device.
Posted by Ted Mc at 8 Mar 2010, 8:18 AM 
Categories: Editorial, Mobile Carriers, News - Mobile, Internet, News - S60, News - Software, Smartphones, Technology, VOIP
Tags: 3 (Hutchinson) Skype communication Internet Mobile Phones smartphones Mobile Industry News VOIP
Categories: Editorial, Mobile Carriers, News - Mobile, Internet, News - S60, News - Software, Smartphones, Technology, VOIP
Tags: 3 (Hutchinson) Skype communication Internet Mobile Phones smartphones Mobile Industry News VOIP
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