On Monday, Skype announced that all SkypeOut calls originating from the US and Canada made to any phone in the US and Canada are free until December 31, 2006. Of course, I had to try it out right away. Wade made a SkypeOut call from Edmonton to my home phone. It sounded great. No noticeable compression or latency.
Out of curiosity, I checked out how much it would cost me to get a phone number and voicemail through Skype. €30 (about $38.50) for a twelve month subscription. This was shocking.
For comparable service (free calls to anywhere in the US and Canada) from Verizon, I pay about $80 per month. $960 per year. $920 more than I need to pay. Incredibly wasteful.
Even if Skype decides to start charging again for SkypeOut calls to the US and Canada, I highly doubt I’d rack up $920 in calls in one year. I would have to spend almost 639 hours (more than 26 days) in outgoing calls.
As far as I can tell, the only downside to switching to Skype is losing the ability to call 911. Is there anything I’m missing here?
7 Comments
Being able to call 911. :-P
Well, the ability to take your phone anywhere with you, right? You’re probably not gonna take the MacBook on a hiking trip or to a concert.
I see they have Skype for PocketPC, but you’re probably not interested in owning one of those, either.
Having said that, I’m going to use Skype as much as I can. I’m switching my Verizon plan from the $80 to the $40 plan right now. Skype 4-eva!
I’m not talking about replacing my cell phone. Just the home phone.
When it really gets interesting is when you can Skype from your cell phone.
hey. i own 3 skype numbers. one for my bro. one for my in-laws (arizona) and one for my friends that i left behind in peoria. i’ll probably let that one drop at the end of its life. i use skype almost exclusively at home now, cept for my nextel. it works well, unless your downloading a huge file at the same time, and then things get a little dicey. gave up my broadvoice phone because of it. cheaper to have. and i made a ton of calls when i was living in peoria and calling the family.
from a mobile perspective, i carry a headset when i am out with the notebook, and have on more than one occasion used it from a panera or a starbucks. it works pretty well there as well. i think, though don’t quote me, that soon, there will be a mobile version of it that can pick up wireless spots and be used just like a mobile phone. tried to find that article today, but couldn’t. anyway… it’s great so far… i talk to much…
Oh…I forgot that Verizon exists in some capacity other than Verizon Wireless. And I forgot that people still have land lines. Heh.
Oh, if only there was an internet service that we could get that’s not tied to a phone line.