Reply to: Skype

[mcquiggd]

My lovely iMate JasJar (PDA phone / 3G etc) came with Skype preinstalled. With wireless internet around the house, and a growing number of places around the city (Edinburgh), and the USB connection to any work PC / laptop, I just log in to MSN and Skype and call people for virtually nothing... i ended up reducing the contract I had to the bare minimum as that was the largest cost, not the calls.

[Joe Black]

"Dont these people get annoyed when you randomly call them from a distant country?"

At some point, as always, someone will eventually hack the software, so look forward to some virus having thousands of zombie computers dialing every number on the planet?...


"At which point Skype will be ****ed because they don't have a line to sell.

I really cannot understand why anyone thinks that Skype (the company) has a viable economic future."

A very good point, as more and more telco's get into this, as they are doing, then I think people are more likely to go for so-called 'triple-play' packages where one company supplies the broadband, IPTV subscription and VOIP phone calls.

For some people (e.g. computer geeks) it may seem great having lots of different stuff, but for Joe Average, he just wants plug in and go.

[tim123]

A recent edition of the Economist was saying that the age of the metered phone call is coming to an end - I think they said that in the near future all calls will be free and we will just pay a flat rate for the line.

At which point Skype will be ****ed because they don't have a line to sell.

I really cannot understand why anyone thinks that Skype (the company) has a viable economic future.

tim

[steve'O]

I still think mine is the best...Press button B and you get your money back!

[DimPrawn]

How else to make new friends? I just Skype em and tell them how good .NET is.

[mcquiggd]

Dont these people get annoyed when you randomly call them from a distant country?




Are you setting up a call center or something..?

[IR35 Avoider]

A recent edition of the Economist was saying that the age of the metered phone call is coming to an end - I think they said that in the near future all calls will be free and we will just pay a flat rate for the line.

[IR35 Avoider]

I've double-checked the countries of interest to me, Skype is indeed cheaper than 18866 for countries of interest, 1.4p instead of 2p and 3.4p instead of 5p. Last time I looked I did find an option cheaper than 18866 though, just couldn't persuade wife to switch. Haven't done the calculation, but I suspect it would take quite a few years to pay back £30 though. (On the other hand I already have speakers and a microphone for PC...)

[DimPrawn]

SkypeOut rates do vary a lot.

Here's the complete price list:

http://www.skype.com/products/skypeo...l?currency=GBP

Best to avoid East Timor, Guinea-Bissau and Nauru.

All these cost 1.2p per minute:

Argentina (Buenos Aires), Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Canada (mobiles), Chile, China (Beijing, Guanzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen), China (mobiles), Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hong Kong (mobiles), Ireland, Italy, Mexico (Mexico City, Monterrey), Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland (Poland, Gdansk, Warsaw), Portugal, Russia (Moscow, St. Petersburg), Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan (Taipei), United Kingdom, United States (except Alaska and Hawaii), United States (mobiles) and last but not least: Vatican.

[Chico]

I use BT Together

[bfg]

Voip

I use http://www.voipcheap.co.uk/en/index.html from the PC, calls to landlines in quite a few countries including the UK are free.

For incoming calls I use http://www.sipgate.co.uk with an adapter plugged into the router.

[WageSlave]

I use Telediscount. They've been pretty good (about 1p p/m for calls to Russia).

[Lucifer Box]

Found some outfit for my father in law last month with calls to Belgium 1p flat charge, talk as long as you like. As long as it's not some wacky destination, shop around - if you're paying anything more than about 2p/min you can almost certainly find cheaper.

[Not So Wise]

I would be surprised if you can call an American, Australian or European mobile/landline from your landline for 1.2p a minute. Can you get cheaper calls than that?

Hmm 1899.com think is 1p per minute to USA
Or toucan international is £9.99 per month which gives unlimited calls to about 30 major countrys (aka pay nothing no matter how long or how much you use it)

These days there is actually quite a few options for international calls, due to them all managed in last 5 years to reduce my phone bills from about £500 per month to about £15 per month

Though hate to say it, BT still has best line quality

[DimPrawn]

Yes the phone is powered and plugs into a USB port on a PC and uses your broadband connection be it cable, wireless or ADSL on a BT line. Does not matter as long as you have Internet access.

I would be surprised if you can call an American, Australian or European mobile/landline from your landline for 1.2p a minute. Can you get cheaper calls than that?

Skype to Skype phone calls are completely free.

Don't know about cheap routers with built in VOIP. I expect they exist.