Beware Skype Voicemail

By | October 17, 2005

Just got off the phone with my old friend Buzz, who calls me up whenever he needs to show off the wonders of Skype or Google Talk. But I noticed something that might be worth bearing in mind: Should the connection fail at any point, and you have voicemail activated on Skype, chances are whatever you’re saying that doesn’t get through to the other person because the connection fails goes through to their voicemail. Nice, and potentially useful if you just need to leave a quick tailgate message, but not so impressive if you’ve realised you’ve been disconnected and then start cursing the connection, Skype, the other person, or their spouse, or if you start a conversation with those around you thinking the line has already been disconnected. It has, but what you’re saying will go through to the other person’s voicemail. I got 10 minutes of Buzz chatting away. I felt I was eavesdropping and stopped listening after 9.5 minutes.

Needless to say, Buzz didn’t say anything nasty about me in the voicemail he unwittingly left for me.. And I don’t think I said anything nasty about Buzz either. But be aware. The wonderful connectivity that Skype and its ilk bring us should carry a health warning.

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