Home > Internet > Skype Out vs Yahoo Voice – Service Review and Comparison

Skype Out vs Yahoo Voice – Service Review and Comparison

September 22, 2006 at 11:37 am · Filed under Internet, Review, Software

I have been using Skype for a long time and recently started using Yahoo Voice as well.

Considering that both Skype Out and Yahoo Voice are paid services, thought I would blog my experience. Maybe it will help someone decide which service to buy.

1) Software: Yahoo Voice comes integrated into Yahoo Messenger that we have all been using for years. So there’s no new software to install or new tool to familiarize yourself with.

2) Ease of Use: Yahoo is trying to do too much in one Messenger tool. Messenger is now too powerful, heavy and overloaded. As I rarely use instant messaging, I just want a tool to make phone calls and maybe chat occasionally, Skype is the superior software if you are just making phone calls.

3) Linux: Skype has a Linux version. To the best of my knowledge Yahoo Voice has no Linux option.

4) Cost: This is where Yahoo is at times twice as good as Skype. Yahoo Voice Rates in some cases are half that of Skype rates. When you compare rates, note that Skype shows rates in Euros by default.

5) Call and Sound Quality: Skype is easily superior to Yahoo. Especially if you are not on a lightning fast connection, the difference in quality can be startling. This is the case in Sep 2006, I guess Yahoo will improve as the voice service matures.

6) Community: In terms of community of users, Skype is obviously way behind Yahoo.

7) Features: Yahoo and Skype are almost the same as regards features. Yahoo has an extra feature to set your home country so that for calls to that country, you need not enter the international calling code. This feature however is buggy as of now. I wasted some money because of it and yahoo support wasn’t much help.

Verdict: If Skype can match Yahoo rates I would definitely go with Skype. If Yahoo is going to save me 10’s of dollars I would use it for family calls and use Skype for business.




Posted By - Harshad Oak

  • Cal
    Bought a $10 credit for Yahoo voice. Great call quality calling from S.E.A to North America. Perfectly clear and the other party heard me well. (mobile phone) And cheap 1cent per minute, (although I hear Skype offers a $3.month unlimited calls to US/Canada...)

    The call quality was so-so when calling to other countries, but considering how my calls are sometimes dropped, it's a relief I'm not being charged for connection fees on Yahoo. And i often just hang up after talking for 2 minutes because I remembered I had something to do, and call back again a few minutes later, at no extra expenses.

    I'd probably stick to Yahoo for now. As far as I know, my siblings all use Skype to call me and their calls are dropped so often they end up calling me 3-4 times. Think about the connection fees!
  • NItin
    using Yahoo voice for years to call from India to US. rates are as low as 1 cent per minute! voice quality is not bad either. i haven't used Skype, so can't really compare...but Yahoo! voice is fairly good for family conversations. more recently, Yahoo! voip control was transsferred to a company called Jajoba or something. i'm not sure about the name. though it has resulted in improved voice quality, the downside is that they save your credit card information (without even informing you!). there is no option to disable this. their customer support gives vague answers when asked for explanation. AND, if you want to cancel the service completely (and delete credit card info from their servers forever), i think you gotta make a CALL to their office. really annoying feature. reminds me of a similar policy of AOL a few years back. so, if ever Yahoo! voice rates are increased, i'll be switching to Skype.
  • Feorge
    I'm almost convinced that this blog has been swarmed by Skype executives or those with a vested interest in Skype. LOL

    I used Skype for a long time, but as the price went up (with the introduction of a 6.8 cent connection fee) the quality went down. I'd often have to try my call 3 or 4 time before getting even an adequate connection (not good - only adequate) so for example, a 10 minute call to N.A. would often cost me around 50 cents (3 or 4 connections fees plus 2.4 cents a minute for the service). However, with Yahoo Voice I almost always get a good connection first time and and am charged 10 cents for the same type of call. Even when I occasionally get a bad connection with Yahoo, it's not a big deal to redial, and i only have to it once -- not 3 or 4 time which was typical with Skype. I also don't face that big 6.8 connection fee every time I redial.

    For me, Yahoo Voice beats Skype by a country mile.
  • Mark
    I have been using Yahoo Voice for 2 years. 20% of the time it just doesn't work, period. Wait a few hours to a day later and try again. 50% of the time it's absolutely, amazingly great, my parents 9000 miles away sound like they are here in the room with me. The other 30% of the time, it's just OK quality, and sometimes have to hang up and retry to get a good connection. Soooo, if you need an absolutely reliable connection 24/7 don't delude yourself and get angry at Yahoo. It is what it is folks, and its ONLY 1 cent per minute from Asia to the USA!!! I love it, and sure, I would like it to improve, and perhaps it will someday....but until then, it's a great value!!
    Just my ONE CENT...... ha ha
  • Chris
    Yahoo Voice sucks!
    It is cheaper for a reason - it doesn't work!!!
    I've tried phone in and phone out. Each of them worked fine for just a few days. And than stopped working.
    I've talked to their Live chat, billing support, sent emails several times - no help at all. Every time I was told that it should work and they are escalating my issue to some mysterious "Engineering group". I've never got any answer from this group nor my issue was solved.
    Once I got some honest answer that they have some problems and it temporarily doesn't work - but it was only once. All other times they were claiming that it has something to do with my computer, internet connection, messenger version or something else.
    So - the whole Yahoo Voice looks like a big scam. They are taking your money knowing that they can't provide you proper service.
    The only good thing is that they are refunding you money without problem - probably because they know exactly that the service doesn't work. But you are not buying phone service to get refund instead of phone service...
    Beware - don't buy Yahoo voice!
    And after experience with this service the whole Yahoo company doesn't look too reliable...
  • singaram
    I have been using skype out for few days to make calls to the US...It is quiet expensive compared to yahoo voice rates but I'm sure the call quality and the skype software will definitely outweigh the call costs..skype is made for voice calls and the VOIP provided by skype can no way be matched by the yahoo voice..
  • Harshada
    Yahoo voice is the worst things i ever used, i started using it for $10, I hardly made 2 calls for the first time. The they locked my account and its been 4 times , i talked to the support with no luck.
    its even more bad as you always get a response from support saying your issue is with senior management. What a user has to do with it? I even dont know why my account is locked? its beem more than 10 days, they could not recover the service. Now am never sure, when I want to make a call, Yahoo will ever be reliable.
  • dude
    I have been paying yahoo for voip for months. now it has suddenly stopped working -- just when i really needed to make calls. yahoo voice is overrated. i think, my experience is so bad, even if yahoo were to make it FREE to call phones using messenger, I WOULD NOT USE IT!!! (i would avoid skype too----too costly). I am looking into other alternatives. HATE YAHOO and their stinkin GUTS!
  • Daniel
    My problem with Skype was it kept on screwing up my audio or when a new program is installed ethe audio on Skype gets messed up. Other than that the program is good.
  • Jim
    I was a Skype enthusiast for a couple of years, but between the introduction of their connection fee and deteriorating call quality, I opted to try Yahoo Voice. Now I can't imagine going back to Skype -- it truly SUCKS.

    Calling from S.E. Asia to N.A., Yahoo has proven to be far superior to Skype, both with regard to price and call quality. When using Skype, I often had to hang up and try a few times before getting acceptable line quality. Of course, this would make calls very expensive (when one considers that I was being hit with a connection fee every time). Having to hang up and recall in an effort to get a decent line is rare for me with Yahoo - it's almost always good the first time, so I'm quite confused by comments here that favor Skype.
  • Agustin
    I used yahoo voice for about a year and a half .. its very cheap .. but the quality sucks big time, there are times when you can get good quality with the phone calls, but this is only about 30% of the time.

    Yahoo was cheaper, and that was the only good thing about it.. but since skype came out with the unlimited plans for us for about 2 dlls, i don't think this will be the case, even if yahoo gets cheaper than this, 2 dlls a month doesn't affect my budget, besides i rather have good quality but pay a little more than low quality just to save a couple of bucks a month (which is no longer the case).

    Another pluss for skype its that it offers more voice services, works with many operating systems (fully funcitonal) and haves more phones than yahoo.
  • Dennis
    I have used skype and yahoo voice for over six months.

    skype is definitely more expensive, given that it also has Connection Charges - yahoo doens't.

    Quality and reliability wise, skype is definitely much much better than yahoo.

    Yahoo has service reliability issues - on many occasions it simply cannot call out or send SMS - sucks big time.

    Yahoo is definitely not ready for prime time.
  • Kuipers Eddy
    there are many more Yahoo and Hotmail users...than Skype users
    Yahoo is better when one uses Messenger services..it outnimbers Skype 10 to 1
    Yahoo is interconnected to Windows Live messenger ....
    Make your own mind up....
  • Rawle W
    yahoo is definitely cheaper. from my experience up to may 2008 call quality is roughly the same. However the new updated Skype has more telephony features and best of all it allows voice conferencing of 24 callers including adding people from various countries as the call progresses. I recently made a call on mothers day from the US to my mother and then effortlessly added a sibling in Barbados and another from the Bahamas! Could not figure out how to do this in Yahoo.
    In essence: I use yahoo for most simple calls but skype for conferencing
  • Amjith
    hi
    is any one know that the skype credit available in india. is so pls send me the information.

    amjith
  • ammu
    check out pfingoTALK at www.pfingo.com , the quality is much better than skype & you get a tel phone as well...it's rates are pretty good & all calls to singapore nos are free!
  • shc
    hi Oak,
    I am curious about the rates. Is the rate shown at
    http://sg.voice.yahoo.com/phone_rates.php
    is correct as it is ?
    will there be any hidden fee? e.g. tax, VTN like skype
    Thanks
  • Dennis Hammack
    Tonight was the first time I had ever used yahoo voice. The quality was great. I didn't know the costs, but if it is just 1 or 2 cents per minute, it is by far one of the best rates anywhere. Recommended for anyone who either doesn't have a phone, or has to use dial-up.
  • Sumit
    Well skype rates are aroung 3 times higher then yahoo, and skype has additional vat tax also
  • suneel
    Yahoo voice is much better than Skype in terms of price. Its just 1cent to call US in Yahoo where as skype charges 5 cents (including the VAT and connection charge). Skype sucks.
  • David
    Yes I call Zimbabwe often and noticed the Yahoo rate is about half the Skype rate, but haven't tested the quality yet. I'll give it a try.
blog comments powered by Disqus
Get Adobe Flash playerPlugin by wpburn.com wordpress themes