In this review, we will focus on the second, as a real alternative to classic phone calls, which is the most important and easy element of business communication.
Business messengers
All key players in the "messenger market" have acquired a voice call system in one form or another. Competition is growing. The user now has the opportunity to make a rational choice based on the "price-quality-functionality" ratio, depending on current needs.
If business partners are “on the same wavelength” or use the same messenger, they will not have any communication problems with modern Internet traffic packages during voice communication. WhatsApp, Viber and Telegram “eat” 0.25-0.6 megabytes per minute of voice communication. Skype is a little more - 1.5 megabytes. For a wallet, taking into account the cost of a gigabyte of Russian Internet (from 30 to 200 rubles, depending on the operator and tariff plan), it is not at all burdensome. For this money, you can “talk” from 700 to 4000 minutes, which threatens the position of cellular telephony.
But it is necessary to take into account the nuance: our friends from remote regions and foreign countries do not always track technical innovations and implement them in their everyday life or production cycle. Sometimes, we have to deal with subscribers of archaic systems. In this regard, one of the requirements for a business messenger is the ability to call any corner of the globe, regardless of whether this application is used there or not. Using the example of two popular messengers Viber and Skype, we will consider how this works and how much it costs.
Viber
Viber's tariff grid is calculated in American cents. The stronger the Russian ruble, the more profitable it is to call landlines and mobile numbers using this application. It is difficult to follow the logic of the messenger's pricing. Domestic communications in Russia are quite expensive - 2.7 cents per minute (1.56 rubles) for landlines and 11.2 cents (6.46 rubles) for mobile phones. Calls to the US and Canada are cheaper - 2.2 cents (1.29 rubles) per minute for landline and mobile numbers, which does not mean that North American calls are cheap. A call to a business partner from Jamaica will cost 15 times more. A short call to Cuba will cost a cosmic 1 dollar 9 cents (almost 63 rubles).
It will cost half as much to talk to Belarus – 59 cents per minute (32.5 rubles), which is still very expensive. The monopolists in the communications market are to blame for this, charging a virtual “customs duty” – all incoming calls are received by Beltelecom. Hence the tariff outrages when talking to the union republic. With socialist China, which has put IP telephony on market rails, you can talk for 40 minutes for this money! You can even contact home subscribers in capitalist Romania for 1.2 cents (0.68 rubles).
Skype
