Hype for Skype

[dagibbs]

ansfrid posted that Skype was offering free calls from Skype to all phones within the US and Canada. Free. Hm.

I thought, hey, I travel a lot... this could be handy. So, I downloaded it, installed it, and tried calling home from work. Installation was easy, the call was simple to do, though a touch confusing -- a couple of the usual "noises" weren't quite right, including missing the ring->pickup transition. Sound quality, with my cheapo headset & microphone was acceptable -- that is, it was comparable or better than I get with my cell phone, though not quite as good as I would expect from a land-line call from here to home.

I'm definitely going to leave this installed, and give it a try on my next couple of business trips.

Unfortunately, they don't seem to offer call-in numbers in Canada yet, but if/when they do, it is priced at 30 EU / line, or about $43.00/line for a year. Of course, I still need a POTS line, to get my DSL.

Comments

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

Yeah, voip to voip is truly free for all of them. But, at least for the rest of the year, Skype seems to also be "truly free" for calls to Canada & USA. And, at least until the end of the year, that's hard to beat for cheapest.

If I like it, and if they start charging again come end of 2006, I may look at alternatives.