I was looking for an alternative to BT, so I thought it was about time I brought Skype into our office. My first port of call was the 3 store in Oldham where I was advised to get the latest 3 mobile. This allegedly allowed me to connect to Skype anywhere in the UK regardless of my location. It sounded great as I envisaged myself being able to take my landline calls outside the office which I saw great value in.

The saying goes, "when things sound too good to be true then they normally are" well this was certainly the case here as the staff at the 3 Store hadn’t been entirely honest with me, here's how the conversation went:

Me: "Can I use Skype on this 3 mobile phone"
3 Staff: "Yes you can"
Me: "Can I make calls to both mobile & landline numbers from this phone"
3 Staff: "Yes you can"
Me: "Can I receive calls to my SkypeIn number"
3 Staff: "What's a SkypeIn Number?"
Me: "It's a number assigned to my Skype account for my business, and I purchased the number from Skype"
3 Staff: "Oh well yes it will definitely work then if it’s through Skype"

Now admittedly the alarm bells should have been ringing when they said, "What’s a SkypeIn number?" but due to the fact they were so enthusiastic and adamant that a SkypeIn number would work I just took them at their word.

11:30pm that night I was still trying to make the phone work but after consulting with my best friend Google with searches along the lines of “Why wont my 3 mobile work with SkypeIn” and “What phones work with SkypeIn”,  I came across thousands of posts with people in the same situation as I none of which had figured out how to make the phone work.

Eventually I found a few specialist sites which explained that the phone actually does not work with SkypeIn, and that the 3 staff nationwide were either misinformed or just unaware that the phone was not compatible with SkypeIn.

A few stern words back at the 3 Store and I was fully refunded and back to square one. So I thought about getting a wireless Skype phone that we could use in the office without having to connect it to our computers via a USB connection. We all agreed this would be a viable option however  after a week we were again let down by the phone cutting off every 10 mins.

We found the route of the problem was although the phone was wireless it connected to Skype through our computers therefore if we had a few programs running the connection had a tendancy to cut out. Finally we discovered a phone in PC World that connected directly to the wireless connection in the office meaning there was no disruption to the line so we swapped the phone again and prayed we’d found the solution.

After a couple of months we still have the Skype phone however we are now considering going back to BT. The reason being is that although Skype is a great concept, has fantastic features such as the Skype Business Control Panel and far cheaper than it’s competitors it has one fundamental flaw that is unforgivable, the line connection is poor.

In business this comes across as very unprofessional when you’re trying to talk with clients who can’t hear you properly or the line keeps cutting out due to the broadband connection playing up. Saying all that we can actually see Skype being a big player in years to come as the growth of 3G and 4G will make connections faster clearer and more reliable, but until that day we will have to put up with BT.

Have you had any experience with Skype? Let us know by commenting below.