Not only is this a waste of my resources it also
provides a shit experience of dropped calls, sudden
drops in quality, and connection issues.
My experience with Skype, by using it everyday, is not at all similar.
Skype for me is the best VoIP system I've ever used. Voice calls work fine even over my phone's 3G connection, which compared to a broadband line is piss poor. Video calls sometime have hiccups, but it worked for me in situations where more traditional client-server solutions were unusable.
I think the problem is that if you have a very fast connection ("10+ mbps lines") then Skype upgrades you to a super-peer and sacrifices your experience in order to route the calls of other Skype users.
Skype for me is the best VoIP system I've ever used. Voice calls work fine even over my phone's 3G connection, which compared to a broadband line is piss poor. Video calls sometime have hiccups, but it worked for me in situations where more traditional client-server solutions were unusable.