You make the call
April 10, 2007 on 1:22 pm | In Voice | 32 Comments
Forrester Research recently published a report, “The VoIP Customer Experience: Work in Progress”. The report examines users’ experiences with voice-over-IP (VoIP) providers, particularly those that combine voice and instant messaging into one application like Yahoo! Messenger.
Although more than half of surveyed consumers knew about VoIP, only 8% had ever tried it. Among this small group, only 4% continue to use VoIP for personal calls, while 3% gave up altogether. So what’s causing this reluctance to try making phone calls through the internet and once in, why do users stop using it?
Forrester found that most problems arise during setup. Due to confusing menus, inconsistent icons and an unintuitive interface, users aren’t really sure how to make that first call. Although Yahoo! Messenger faired best with a usability score of +9 (on a scale of -50 to +50), we still did not achieve Forrester’s minimum passing score of +25. Other factors like whether a user has friends online that they can call for free and concerns about low voice quality were the primary drivers for abandonment.
Yahoo! Messenger did receive thumbs up in a couple of areas. Our prominent security and privacy messaging during setup was noted, along with our efforts to educate users on what VoIP devices work best with Yahoo! Messenger. “Yahoo! came out as the least geeky application, the result of the firm consciously focusing its designers on converting instant messaging users into voice users.”
Have you tried voice in Yahoo! Messenger yet? If not, what’s stopping you? Here are a few common reasons we hear from skeptical users, followed by some helpful suggestions:
“I’m not sure how to make a call in Messenger” – There are two ways to initiate a call. While you’re IM’ing with a friend, click the Call button in the upper left corner. Or, near the top of the main Messenger window (where your contact list is), enter a phone number in the white box and choose the “Call Phone Number” from the drop-down menu.
“I don’t believe the quality is very good” – Hearing is believing, right? Make a free PC-to-PC call to another friend who’s online in Messenger. Or call an 800, 866, 877 or 888 toll-free number – it’s free and there’s no sign-up required (you need to be on version 8.1).
“I don’t want to sign up with my credit card” – You can make free PC-to-PC calls to any Messenger friend that’s online. You only need to sign up with your credit card if you want to call landlines or mobile phones at low rates using Messenger.
“I don’t have the right equipment” – If you’re on a laptop, your built-in speakers and microphone are all you need to make voice calls. If you have a desktop, you can use your speakers or headphones to hear the call, and you can find inexpensive PC microphones ($10 or less) at many online retailers or at a local Radio Shack. For additional voice devices, check out the Yahoo! Messenger Accessories page.
“I don’t want to be tied to my computer to make calls” – Late last year, Linksys released the CIT310 Cordless Phone for Yahoo! Messenger. Plug the USB cord into your computer and the other into your phone jack, then use it to make VoIP calls over Messenger or to make regular landline calls over your phone line. It’s cordless so you can roam free!
So what are you waiting for? Go ahead, make that first call. 
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
The Yahoo! Voice homepage is blocked in the United Arab Emirates and VoIP (PC – PC or PC – Phone) usage is officially illegal here. So I made a Wikipedia page for Yahoo! Voice.
Please make any improvements required, so people can get some idea of what it is, eventhough the main site may be blocked.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahoo!_Voice
Comment by Muzammil — April 10, 2007 #
I also want to add, Yahoo! Messenger really should add a Skype like automated answering machine service.
Its really helps to confirm how well a service is being actively blocked, mic levels, volume levels and also check out the call quality with current bandwidth in very real world situation.
P.S. When can we use start using audibles during conference calls.
Comment by Muzammil — April 10, 2007 #
why have yahoo removed the audio setup wizzard and replaced it with the audio confrence crap every version gets worse lmao use google talk for voip calls
Comment by Yep — April 10, 2007 #
Yep,
In my VoIP/IM universe, most people like to chat (text IM) with WLM but like to talk (VoIP PC-PC) with Yahoo! Messenger or Skype (Ones with really slow connections).
Google Talk maybe better, but if the other person doesn’t want to try it, then its useless.
Comment by Muzammil — April 10, 2007 #
beta os messenger sucks u cant chat! duh
Comment by justn tyson — April 10, 2007 #
i want to signout from my mobile device, is it possible?
Comment by Shilpa — April 11, 2007 #
Outside the US do you need to pay to test the service? is there no way we can trial with a free phone number?
Comment by Andy — April 11, 2007 #
I have been using Yahoo! voice for 1.5 years or so…I like it’s features…they are detailed and good (best in the lot)…
But the voice quality is really bad and so I don’t use it much…also the rates for calling are kinda high compared to one another service provider and the latter’s voice quality is also much better
I generally use Google (for PC to PC) & MSN (for PC to PC) and I use Lycos Phone (PC to Phones) & Yahoo! (PC to Phone)
Comment by user — April 11, 2007 #
I dont understand what half the peeps are complaining about..i`ve used a number of voip products like google talk, skype, msn and others..in terms of features they dont come within a mile of yahoo..especially if its pc to pc…the chat plugins together with voip simply blasts the competition out of range….the pc to phone isnt as reliable but its certainly the cheapest i could find..and it hasnt given me any problems worth mentioning..furthermore i was also able to hook up my mobile bluetooth headset to talk with yahoo messenger..what more can one ask?
Comment by Thom — April 11, 2007 #
> Have you tried voice in Yahoo! Messenger yet? If not, what’s stopping you?
Perhaps because audio in Yahoo! Messenger for the Mac doesn’t work?
You’re putting all this effort into increasing 4% of the market, when the current beta Messenger for at least a 10% share doesn’t work. And “Add Picture” in Edit Profile evidently isn’t currently working for 100% of your customers, and hasn’t for a while.
Going forword, how well can VoIP be expected to work in this environment, in the future? Put effort into better maintenance of the current features before trying to get people to use bleeding edgefeatures that will likely be maintained in the current manner …
Comment by C W — April 11, 2007 #
I’ve been using Yahoo! Messenger for years. I love its features compared to Windows Live Messenger. There is, however, a weakness found using Yahoo Messenger. When I install WindowBlinds on my computer, it seems to crash with Yahoo! Messenger. The Messenger does load, but each time I click on a button or right click on any icons, it closes automatically. Is there any solution to this? Need help here, thanks.
Comment by Nicky — April 11, 2007 #
hi Nicky
yahoo messenger and windows blinds don’t play nicely together, what you need to do to prevent the conflict is disable windows blinds from skinning yahoo messenger and peace will be restored
right click on yahoo icon go to properties,
then compatibility,(Tab)
then check disable visual themes.
Click Apply
Click OK
if that fails to work (it’s dependant on Windows Blinds version and Yahoo Messenger version), then try…
add Yahoo Messenger to your Per Applications.
Right-click on the systray Icon of WindowBlinds > Configure WindowBlinds
(under Settings, Click on the Category) Per Application > add Per application (button at the bottom of the window)
> and then browse for your Yahoomessenger executable file. (yahoomessenger.exe)
This should prevent Windowblinds from attempting to skin Yahoo Messenger and thus eliminate the chances of a clash with this program.
under Total Exclusion
select Ignore this application and do not skin it
click OK
we have an article with screenshots at… http://www.wackyb.co.nz/Yahoo!_Messenger_and_Windows_Blinds/
if you need more information
Comment by bee — April 11, 2007 #
I haven’t tried “Phone In” yet but have tried “Phone Out” along with the PC-to-PC Calling. I must say that I’m impressed here (not overly however) with your calling features/services so far. The clarity of a direct PC-to-PC call or even one taking place over your relay servers (indirectly) is noticeable and is of high quality (better than landline). The custom-assigned ringtones is also a nice plus.
Comment by Adam [Torseq Technologies] — April 11, 2007 #
Yep wrote: “why have yahoo removed the audio setup wizzard and replaced it with the audio confrence crap every version gets worse lmao use google talk for voip calls”
The Audio Setup Wizard may have been replaced with a newer configurator but you can still obtain a standalone version of the old wizard as a separate program.
Yahoo! Audio Conference System Wizard:
http://download.yahoo.com/dl/update/yacswiz.exe
Comment by Adam [Torseq Technologies] — April 11, 2007 #
Thank you very much for the tips, Adam! it works just fine now!!! HAHA
Comment by Nicky — April 12, 2007 #
have a paid for pro account with Flickr, which is now owned and maintained by Yahoo. Since my account was unexpectedly locked last Monday, I can no longer now access my flickr account either. Despite having contacted customer service for an explanation, and also to ascertain what needs to be done to reinstate my service, I have not received a reply.
As a paying customer at flickr, I find the level of customer service reprehensible and unprofessional. If I were to treat my customers in this fashion, I wouldn’t be in business very long. If my account is not to be reinstated, then I feel I have no option but to seek reimbursement for my paid fee’s. After all, I would think it is a reasonable expectation of any paying customer to a service that they receive and have use of that service. Additionally, and to my regret, I have folders with irreplaceable information on my yahoo email account, also to which i do not have access. Given that Yahoo is an international company, I would have expected at least an acknowledgement of my concerns.
Not being able to access my email is annoying, I have folders created there with personal information plus information such as serial numbers for proprietary software I purchased online and cannot now retrieve if I needed to.
Now I’m not sure of what to do in order to have my account reinstated, hence my email to you. Any assistance on this issue would be appreciated. I have attempted to contact customer service several times without result. Sure takes the shine off the Yahoo product for me.
Comment by chris — April 12, 2007 #
We can call a computer but we still can’t join chat, I see where all this B.S is going. If the rooms are going just say they are going, stop rushing us with all your new stuff and expect we will all keep messenger. Yahoo’s inability to fix what they have already doesn’t say much for all the new stuff coming. Let’s get exploited a little more and before long we will be back to square one. Yahoo! has to fix what they have now before they end up losing it all!
Comment by polar — April 12, 2007 #
Chris, did you use Flickr’s help page? http://flickr.com/help/contact/
Comment by Jon — April 12, 2007 #
It seems quite a few (ok, all) audio chat programs don’t think that Mac OSX is worth putting any time into. It’s a shame that 4% isn’t worth the effort.
Here is a similar problem along the same lines (and mildly on topic)
I live in a rural area and all that’s available is dialup, I’m lucky to get 26.4K. The phone company’s response? “Our rural areas can’t be maintained to the degree our city services are” So I asked why they appeared to have abandoned us altogether, and he had no answer.
As a Mac user, I feel abandoned much the same way.
Macs aren’t little square computers with 9 inch b/w screens anymore but I’m not sure many folks realize this….
Comment by Tom — April 12, 2007 #
yup yahell keeps improving the messanger…needs to compete with Goggle, new imporved etc etc… but coome down to this Sarah is doing nothing about the chat rooms, leave many high and dry… instead of improving every thing thye don’t.
Wonders about share holders rights, and if it can be brought up at a share holders meeting about the crappy why yahoo is running th chat rooms…hmmmmmmm
I still wonder if Sarah is actually a bot,,,,,,,,,,she avoids ay thing posted about the chat rooms here
Comment by den — April 13, 2007 #
Yahoo will not come close to google talk the main thing gtalk lacks is chat rooms that is for now when and i think they will eventually add rooms yahoo will loose a lot more people gmail has 2GB of space yahoo only recently had the pms in email function added (best way to describe it) gtalk has had this over a year since it was first introduced and you have hardly any spam on a gmail account and the spam filters are superb kind of mad aint it when google offererd to seel to yahoo some years back but yahoo did not invest and buy them out now they are playing catch up lol Google are taking the net by storm they now own youtube and also google video lol appears your stocks are dwindling while google thrives
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/03/09/att-piles-on-yahoo/
so it apears sponsers are reconsidering there deals also good thats called karma yahoo has been to lazy far to long they are getting whats coming to them
Comment by LOL — April 13, 2007 #
Sarah, we hope that you are reading these comments and taking them forward to someone who has the ability to address the real problems here. No one cares about VoIP, when they want access to chat rooms. No one will care about the voice quality if there is nothing to hear. For once, take action and fix the chat room problems and have some happy customers for a change.
Comment by Kate — April 15, 2007 #
I’m not happy, my messenger won’t join chat and it says I am in the room but I have no room showing. When I finally got into a room with a 3rd party client all these names were scrolling the room with colors and coding of some sort, it made my computer make funny noises and disconnected my computer to computer call I had with my messenger. How can I stop that from happening again?
Comment by polar — April 16, 2007 #
Dear Yahoo Team
Why do you guys have to take a long Vacation. It seems you are taking 11 Months Vacation and not doing nothing about Yahoo Messenger. You know the concern here, We are all fed-up with the attitude we are recieving from your Company. We are now at a stage of leaving Yahoo Messenger. I as a Developer have been working on a new chat client which will give you guys a shock because the nice interface and features it has i think everyone will want to come to my reliable Chat Servers and use my client. Its double twice better than any chat client on the Web but im not going to judge it because i just want to clear this up once and for all. If you fail to answer my Questions Below within 48 hours. I will be going to all major internet press sites including CNet and ZDNet , reporting everyones concern towards you and your Chat Client “Yahoo Instant Messenger With Voice”
Failing to respond in 48 hours time: will result in me going live.
Question 1
Why do you ignore everyones messages on the Blogger concerning the chatrooms not functioning as they should be?
Why do you fail to put a fix to SPAM in Chats?
Why do you fail to fix the chatroom server issue? Users would like to access the rooms instantly but Unfortunately they cannot.
We have not been able to access the chats instantly for a very long time. There was over 300 posts from users concering this issue on this blog site last month. Why have you failed to respond to these peoples concerns [regarding the chat server issues] ?
If nobody hears nothing within 48 Hours i will be making the call!
Comment by vb_packets — April 20, 2007 #
Amen to the above! It’s a real shame that you fail to act on problems in the chat rooms that so many have brought to your attention. Getting into chat seems to take forever and if you get disconnected like I do every night it’s even more frustrating to get back in the room. Something else I’ve been wondering about is the statement upon entering a chat room that ISP’s are being reported, etc. Seems to me this is merely for a scare tactic for someone, certainly doesn’t appear to bother the booters. Booters and bots run rampant so why the IPS statement? Sure could use some help from you folks but this has gone on so long I personally don’t think anything will ever be done. I’m looking for the day we chatters have some new options for chat on the table.
Comment by personagrata — April 20, 2007 #
There’s a simple reason for not using Yahoo Voice – I don’t need a Linksys CIT310 Cordless Phone for Yahoo! Messenger if I have to keep my computer on all the time to use it.
I want to use an ATA (analog telephone adapter) with SIP server or something like this, so that I can plug the ATA box to my internet connection & phone, without leaving the computer on.
I wish Yahoo Team could answer this question: when we’ll be able to use ATA boxes with Yahoo Voice?
Comment by wanna_an_ATA — April 21, 2007 #
I have not used yahoo messenger for calls but I have just recently started using skype for inetrnational calls and I can speak to my family very conveniently and as naturally as I speak to them face to face this is bcuz of the voice quality provided by the skype..i do not know about yahoo…but my experience with skype assures u best service for international call..can visit http://www.skype.com
Comment by harry — April 27, 2007 #
Does anyone know if there is any phone unit available, which can be used with yahoo VIP without having the computer connected / on at all times? I found IP8300 from Vtech, they are saying it is coming soon for the last six months, but it is still not available for sale. Please let me know if any other phone unit is available right now.
Comment by Mr. India — April 28, 2007 #
Hi Mr. India,
Unfortunately there is not a device yet that offers that kind of functionality with Yahoo! Messenger’s voice features. Thanks,
Sarah Bacon
Comment by Administrator — April 28, 2007 #
When yahoo will allow us to use analog telephone adapter to use with yahoo voice. I do not perfer to keep my compuet running all day Which is also not energy efficient.
Comment by Karthik — July 27, 2008 #
How can I combine call in and call out account in yahoo messanger.
Comment by young lee — August 8, 2008 #
Like most internet technologies, this technology suffers from bandwidth issues. My frustration is from lack of connectivity due to slow connections etc. It’s like freeways: once you build them, more people use them; once more people use them, they are no longer ‘fast’; once they’re no longer fast, frustration sets in—-until they widen or build more freeways, and then cycle repeats all over again. Technologies that rely on speed will always tend toward a state of ‘deceleration’ due to this phenomena. The evolution of user volume will always surpass the evolution of system speed.
Comment by jnh — August 27, 2008 #