This story caught my eye two or three different places, but I haven't seen it explored in real depth anywhere.

When NOT to use Skypeout 

Here is one reason NOT to use Skypeout for all your calls.

Last night I called Chase to get some more information about a charge on my Southwest Visa, Something I’ve done a few times since having the card. No big deal. Then this afternoon my card was declined when purchasing lunch. Odd that that would happen, you know? So, I called to figure out what was going on.

Customer service told me they had put a hold on the account last night due to a unknown number that called in. They asked what number I called from, and I explained I thought I called from my voip (internet) phone, and it didn’t have a number. They told me the system flagged the account automatically, because it looked suspicious. Pretty smart I guess.

Users of SkypeOut don't have any control over the CallerID information that gets transferred to the companies we all do business with. It's important to note that any time you call those folks, insurance companies, HMOs, credit card companies, and the like, you're probably calling a call center somewhere. Call centers today don't just live on voice services. Data feeds the machine. They get your phone number too. And while you might turn CallerID off or not have it enabled, if you're calling a toll-free number, you've implicitly waived the right to the privacy of your telephone number.

Many businesses now use your home phone number as part of your customer profile. Using Skype to call makes you look like an unknonw caller. More to the point. SkypeOut has become a very popular tool for prank calling. There are several videos on YouTube of people making prank SkypeOut calls. 

How big a problem this is remains to be seen and Skype could fix it if they choose. With their recent added support of SMS, users can define the telephone number that gets displayed with an SMS message. It's not inconceivable that the same service couldn't be offered to paid users of a premium SkypeOut service. Remember, free SkypeOut to the end of the year is really just the bait to win longer term customers.

And the issue could service with a number of other VoIP services - really any VoIP service that provides a gateway to call out to the PSTN could be affected.


Technorati Tags: Skype, SkypeOut, CallerID, VoIP