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I'm using Skype for international calls and Attractel ZoiPer is our corporate application for calls between offices and for local calls too. Sometimes I also need Google Talk or MS Live Messanger because a customer want to use one of them.

I'm dissapointed that Skype 4.0 starts too long and eats a lot of memory (2 or 3 times more comparing to previous version). At least, new features of Skype doesn't worth so large footprint. And it works good only if connection is good. I found that for me Google Talk sometimes can work better on slaw connections but this tool is still not so much used by other users comparing to Skype, ICQ, MSN... Also you cannot call to other phones and I dont like the idea that all my chat histories are stored in gmail on server.

So here is my top-10 feature list for VoIP / communication application

  1. It should start quickly and don't take too much memory
  2. It should be convenient both for chat and voice calls, and should be able to send/accept files
  3. It should be able to store message history localy or on server - depending on y selection for the contact/or group
  4. It should be able to record voice calls
  5. It should be able to call local/international phones and be called from there, even if I have to pay for that.
  6. It should be able to redirect calls/messages to my mobile phone (payed service) but I want to setup from what groups of contacts I want to allow this feature
  7. It should be able to adjust quality settings according to current connection status
  8. It should be able to deliver messages even if I go offline (i.e. messages can be routed thru server but not only peer-to-peer)
  9. It should be able to inform about missed calls to my e-mail or SMS to mobile phone if I enable this feature
  10. I dont need integration to social networks like in Windows Live Messanger. It should be a business communication tool, not for hobbie or for fan. Or, if somebody think it is important, then let me access to LinkedIn :) But still, it is not a key feature

Are there any tool that can match most of the criteria above ? Or Skype is still the best ?

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closed as off-topic by random Apr 23 at 3:08



Prehaps you could change the title of your question to is there a better tool for voip than skype? –  Jeremy French Jul 24 '09 at 10:33

1 Answer 1

up vote 3 down vote accepted

I think you have answered your question, skype is about it.

That is a long list of requirements, you are not going to get everything but I think skype can do most of the above. We have been using it at work for a while and it works well for the most part. The only thing I don't think it does natively is record calls there are plenty of other things which will.

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Skype does all I want and doesn't bother me with other crap –  Ivo Flipse Jul 24 '09 at 10:38
