Skype vs Gizmo5: On Open Networks

Over the past week Skype has been making some waves, starting with a speech at ITXPO where they declared “VOIP is Dead.” Then Michael Robertson of Gizmo5 fired back in response to their petition to the FCC arguing for more open wireless networks (aka cellular.) What folly, a closed network operator (Skype) preaching open networks to other closed network operators (cellular carriers.)

Dan York has collected up the actions & reactions, as well as the Calliflower conference call on the matter from last Friday. Michael Robertson was on that call. It’s definitely worth a listen.

The debate between Skype and Gizmo5 has been very enlightening.  It brings up a lot of topics that merit serious evaluation.

It’s of particular interest to note that Skype interoperates with termination providers using SIP. Calls placed to/from the PSTN via their SkypeIN and SkypeOUT calls all traverse SIP gateways. So their back-end is based on open standards, which makes perfect sense because they have to buy termination from the same companies as everyone else.