Gaurav ... these are good hypotheses and recommendatons ... i think Skype would really take-off in India if integrated into mobile phones easily. Also, those companies which rely on a pay-per-lead model might be interested in a pay-per-click model.

Gaurav,...very very nicely put. But tell me one thing. What would be amount of MB per hour that is likely to be the data transfer rate on a 256 Kbps connection for using Skype 2 that has audio and video built in. I guess that is quite important since mostly we do have data transfer limits imposed by our broadband service providers and that is fairly accross the board.

great work!
i make around 400 peoples to use skype and shown them that skype out calls are much better than landline phone call to USA,Canada,NZ,ausetc. now the point is that the skype rates need to slashed .
Second major problem

How to buy skype out as we are not want to use credit card on net.
please sell the skype out creidts on shops as recharge coupens it will make skype to penetrate more and more in india

I use skype on an MTNL Broadband?? connection and the quality of the call is better than local cell phones calls.(PC to PC)

One big problem with Skype is I cannot buy Skype Out minutes here in Bombay in Rupees.

I am paying for VSNL VoIP calls and the quality sucks IF I am able to get through.

I do not have current information about Indian wages. But it is good to know that the average Indian wage is as high as $5 per day. India has sure come a long way. It is this or for the rest of the world, IT India is all of India.

For skype to become popular in India, you need to have people who have a mic which is very low in India. This leads to the fact that not many will prefer to use skype. A person may open skype for a few days with alternative chat clients but will eventually shift over to the alternative client since not many will be using the same.

So to make skype popular, there has to be aggressive marketing like in email ads and online ads. Has to tie up with popular ISPs like Airtel. Sify has its own voice client(which sucks, like the ISP itself due to its overpricing). Airtel would be a better option IMO and its market share is increasing with it opening of new cities.

When I first came to the USA ten years ago (yes, its been ten years), I used to spend more than 50 cents per minute calling India. A fair proportion of my small graduate research assistant salary was spent on international calls. Over the years, the phone call rate to India has progressively gone down (currently I am paying 11 cents for phone calls). Since i was introduced to Skype (which uses P2P technology to offer free internet calling), the cost for much of my international calling has reduced to zero. The sound quality is far superior than for most international phone calls. There is almost no time lag (which makes a huge difference).
Right now, I am in Boston for the Internet and Society conference. From my hotel room, I have already had two international conversations, one with someone in India, another with someone in Brazil. I am also using Skype for communicating with my colleagues back in California (why pay roaming charges on a cell phone, or outrageous hotel phone bills).
Apart from the slight disruption in sleep cycle (with the three hour difference), I can work from my hotel room in Boston, as if I was back at my desk in California. And that's primarily because of Skype. The sound quality on Yahoo and MSN audio chat just does not measure up. Also, I like Skype's use of the phone icon for showing active calls, and the sound of the phone ring when someone calls you on Skype. I even like seeing the number of Skype users online (1,002,689 right now).
Yes, there are some usability issues. And the Skype conferencing facility still needs a lot of work. But Skype is living proof of the fact that usefulness can trump everything else. Skype fulfills a real, long-unmet need, and fulfills it better than anything else out there.
If you are still using Yahoo/MSN/AOL for voice chats, then give Skype a try. You will be pleasantly surprised at the difference.

Hii All,

Gud 2 kno tht, India is looking forward for Skype. Im into marketing with one of the leading ISPs in APAC. And coming to promoting of Skype in India, It is not as easy as just partnering with some local player and sell it. If that was the case, Skype would have been here much before you all discussed about it. There are certain telecom regulations for promoting VoIP in India, which are not very much feasible as of now. ISP's like ours are working with government bodies to further ease the regulations on VoIP.

Hope to see Skype soon in India.

Let me start with this - SKYPE ROCKS BIG TIME!

I myself being a s/w dev use skype almost my every working hour. And have been using it for last two years. The great thing about skype guys is they have kept it very simple and straight. The way it's been regularly upgraded is just amazing. I use a lot of Skype In Feature as I got a UK landline number. Our UK customers can call me direct on this number and talk for hours (being tech support calls) and all I pay is a static fee of 20 pounds for whole year. Doesnt it sound too good to be true.

I dont think there is need to say anything about sound quality both on PC to PC or PC to landline. People who use it know that it is far better than any countries telecom network for sure.

So keep skype-ing..........

Dear friends,

I heard that you can make calls to India via Skype for FREE from USA, if that is true, how ?

I tryed to download the software and was able to make free calls within USA, but when I tried to call India it said insufficent funds.

Any help would be appreciated...

Regards

Ganesh, unfortunately the deal is to call free within the Canada+US zone. While there have been several one-day International specials, the free Canada+US until year end deal is probably what you've read about.

Ganesh, There is no voip service till date which offers free cals to indian land lines or mobiles. The only free call I have ever made to India was using globe7 and that too was a special offer sort of thing cant remember how many mins they gave free.
Indian telcom ministry is a long way from letting voip flow freely.

Down with the govt of India :(

i want to make free local calls from my pc to landline phone only in india and within 70 kms range is there any way?some one plz help me
what shoul i do ?i have skype msgr in my pc

thanks to all in advance

What would be a fair rate in US dollars for a student or part time professional to input data online for a small us company. I am attempting to outsource data entry processing and what websites would I advertise on.

Thank in advance
Ed Riley

Ed,
If you little specific about the data Entry work, I could help you in India to get it done.
Thanks!
-Dave (email)