Skype Vs. Google - The Battle For VoIP Supremacy

The world is more 'connected' now than it was even just a few years ago. Widespread WI-fi availability, blanket 3 and 4G network coverage across the country and the universal ubiquity of smartphones and tablets has meant that we're now almost always within reach of one another.

This has (of course) altered our business and personal lives (largely) for the better. Though conventional phone conversations, email and text remain consistent and important methods of communication, video conferencing and web calls have become more common since the introduction of free web based video chat and VoIP (voice over internet protocol) clients.

These services don't only offer free (basic) services, but allow users to converse without the disability of not being able to read facial cues and without paying exhorbitant line rental charges. Video conferencing and web dialing was once the stuff of science fiction (we all remember 'Back to the Future 2' right?) but it's now been fully integrated into our business and personal lives and Skype has for years sat at number 1 as the worlds most popular video chat and VoIP service since its inception.

There are pretenders the its lofty throne waiting in the wings though, the most notable of which is Internet giants Google's own suite of video conferencing applications, 'Hangout'.

Skype

The big grand daddy of them all, Skype was one of the first solutions that allowed users to web conference and use VoIP services without the need of any specific external hardware. For many, Skype was their first introduction to software based VoIP and people were initially floored by how easy and convenient it was to setup.

The only limit that Skype brings to the VoIP table is that you are limited to using your computers or mobile devices as the ability to make VoIP calls through an external phone is not supported by Skype. Besides that it's just about as flexible as you could possibly wish for. Although Skype is by far the most stable and affordable of the VoIP services it does have limitations.

It's feature set is rather 'bare-bones' in comparison to other services, with no options for call blocking or call returns. It does however, allow users to keep their current phone numbers (handy for businesses especially) and provides international calling and unlimited minutes on certain plans.

The ubiquity of Skype also means that there are stable apps available for it on the majority of smartphone and tablet operating systems and the support options are top notch. In this respect, other services just can't compare. A great point of contention for many came in 2011 however, when Microsoft bought Skype for the magnificent sum of $8.5 billion.

Image Credits: blog.sidboswell.com

Many users questioned whether or not Microsoft would be able to provide a comparable service and jumped ship. The majority of Skype users continue to use the service though and couldn't be happier with it. When all is said and done, for the foreseeable future, Skype will still be the first port of call for VoIP and free web conferencing.

Google

Google's suite of communication services launched to quite a significant amount of fanfare in the early months of 2009. Google's service was split into 2 groups, 'Voice' and 'Talk'. Google 'Voice' was the companies VoIP service and it offered a raft of features such as voicemail, SMS messaging, conference calling, call screening and even a service that transcribed voicemail messages into text. Google 'Talk' meanwhile was the companies peer-to-peer video messaging service.

Unlike Skype (where all three services are collated into one place), Google had chosen to separate the services, which in my opinion was a wise move. This all changed however earlier this year (2013) with the unveiling of Google+ 'Hangouts', where 'Talk' and 'Voice' were grouped into one package.

In theory, 'Hangout's is a wonderful idea as it allows users to manage their entire Google profile from one screen, this includes email for those using Google's 'Gmail'. This approach comes with it's own problems though. For one it's 'all-in-one' nature means that the service probably isn't as 'secure' as Skype and it's far more complicated to get to grips with than both Skype and Google's own, now sadly defunct, individual 'Talk' service.

The Verdict

Having used both in the past I can honestly say that I (until recently) found Google's service to be far more in line with my personal requirements. However I am fully aware that compared to those users who hold active Skype accounts, significantly fewer hold active Google+ accounts and the 'Hangouts' system has been ridden with bugs since it's inception and these bugs are hard to overlook.

So (for the time being at least) if you're going to use VoIP services on a regular basis, my honest opinion would be to hold accounts in both until Google's 'Hangouts' service becomes more stable and use Skype 'for the time being' until the kinks are worked out of the Hangouts system.

Rose Finchley

About the Author:

Alex Thomas writes for Maintel – leading experts in unified communications and telecommunications. Alex writes about SEO, business communications and marketing.