SkypeOut Now Free!

teammatt3's picture

He has: 2,102 posts

Joined: Sep 2003

I just heard on Digg.com that skypeout is now free. You can call anyone is the US and Canada on a regular telephone for free using Skype. It's pretty cool. http://skype.com. It works great. You need a mic though.

Megan's picture

She has: 11,421 posts

Joined: Jun 1999

Hmmm... I might have to try that.. too bad you can't call the UK Laughing out loud

Busy's picture

He has: 6,151 posts

Joined: May 2001

I thought skype was (free) world wide? I use it to ph OZ and NZ, haven't used ot for USA yet as time zones suck.

They have: 15 posts

Joined: Apr 2006

It was always free worldwide to do PC-to-PC, but it looks like they're doing free PC to *phone* anywhere in Canada or the US. Quite the bold move.. a classic case of short-term-pain for long-term-gain. Downloading it right now and look forward to trying it out... thanks for sharing teammmatt.

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teammatt3's picture

He has: 2,102 posts

Joined: Sep 2003

Just a side question, why do you suppose they are only offering in the US and Canada, if I remember correctly, isn't Skype HQ in the UK?

They have: 15 posts

Joined: Apr 2006

Think of it as one big huge advertising investment for Skype. Where is the VOIP market at in the UK right now? All I can speak for are Canada and the US where Vonage is running TV ads as much as any other company out there. Whereas Vonage is spending a ton on traditional advertising, Skype is taking what is probably a pretty big $$ hit until the end of the year so that they can start making us into regular customers.

Costs for doing something like this in the UK may be different than Canada/US too... Maybe someone that knows a bit more about the telco industry can help me out

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JeevesBond's picture

He has: 3,956 posts

Joined: Jun 2002

Well, to do that Skype would have to either pay for the calls, or climb into bed with British Telecom. I would imagine the former would cost too much and the latter wouldn't happen because BT have probably got VOIP world domination plans of their own. Either that or BT haven't got a way to combat VOIP and are worried about people not using their phones anymore.

I don't understand where all this VOIP hype came from anyway, I remember using it perfectly well about 5 years ago, over a dialup. It's annoying it takes so long for the masses to catch on!

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Serfaksan's picture

They have: 18 posts

Joined: Jun 2006

well I dont think that I can use that number in central america anyway XD!

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