skypeout posts

Filed under: VoIP

Skype offering 25% off 12-month SkypeOut subscriptions

by Brad Linder Apr 27th 2009

If you make a lot of PC to phone calls using Skype but haven't already signed up for a 12 month unlimited plan, you might want to think about placing an order before May 6th. Because Skype is offering a 25% discount for customers who sign up for unlimited SkypeOut plan between now and then.

The cheapest plan starts at $2.95/month before the discount is applied for calls to landlines and celllphones in the US and Canada. You can also subscribe to a plan that lets you make unlimited calls to landlines in a single country, or an "Unlimited World" plan that lets you make calls to landlines in more than 40 countries for $12.95/month before the discount is applied.

[via GigaOm]

Tags: bargains, discount, skype, skypeout, voip

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Productivity, VoIP

SkypeSync ports your mobile phone contacts to Skype

by Jay Hathaway Jun 21st 2008

SkypeSync is a new service you can use to get all those numbers from your phone into your Skype list, so you can call them with SkypeOut, the Skype feature that lets you call regular phone numbers. It's built using the SyncML standard, which is supported by most recent phones, so the odds are pretty good that it'll work for your cell.

Here's how to use it: point your phone's browser at zyb.com, a free synchronization server recently acquired by Vodafone, and store your contacts there. Download and open SkypeSync (it's only available for Windows right now) and use its Synchronization Wizard to import your contacts from Zyb to Skype. Voila! You now have all your phone numbers ready for use with SkypeOut.

Obviously, the service is somewhat limited right now, since it only works with Zyb, but there are plans to support other synchronization servers soon. Right now, this looks like a decent solution if you're a big SkypeOut user, and don't want to face the prospect of manually entering every number you want to call on Skype.

Tags: cellphone, contacts, dataportability, mobile, skype, skypeout

Filed under: VoIP

Make free SkypeOut calls to mom on Mother's day

by Brad Linder May 1st 2007

Want to call your mom on Mother's day, but you've spent so much money on your blazing fast computer and high-speed internet connection that you can't afford the long distance bill? Skype and Intel want to help.

Intel is sponsoring a day of free "global calling" over Skype. By global, they mean you can place the call from anywhere in the world, but you have to make your SkyeOut call to a phone number in the U.S. or Canada.

Normally, these calls would cost about $.02 per minute unless you have a Skype Unlimited plan, which runs $30 per year.

Of course, you don't have to use your free minutes to call your mom on May 13th, but if you don't, there's the risk that she'll hop on the internet and call you first. And that'll just feel weird. Next think you know, she'll be checking out your MySpace page and forwarding you emails about Viagra.

[via Engadget]

Tags: bargain, intel, mother's day, Mother'sDay, skype, skypeout

Filed under: Audio, Internet, Utilities

Make phone to phone calls with Skype Web Toolbars

by Brad Linder Mar 12th 2007

The latest version of Skype's Web Toolbars for Firefox and Internet Explorer includes three new features.

When you conduct a search on Google, MSN Live Search, and Ask, PayPal merchants will be highlighted, letting you know at a glance if you can by items through PayPal.
Right-click on images to send a picture directly to friends via Skype. You can also automatically save pictures as your Skype avatar.
Call with a home phone. If you find a number on a web page, rather initiating a PC to phone call with SkypeOut, Skype can call your home phone number, then the number you selected, and connect the call.

Okay, that last one's pretty cool, and sound a lot like what JaJah does. The downside is that Skype will charge you for two phone SkypeOut calls, including initiation fees. In other words, it might take a few seconds longer to pick up the phone and dial the number yourself, but you'll probably wind up saving some money.

On the other hand, if you don't have a long distance plan on your home telephone, this counts as an incoming call. So all you have to pay is the Skype fee.

[via Skype Journal]

Tags: phone calls, PhoneCalls, skype, skype web toolbar, skypeout, SkypeWebToolbar

Filed under: Internet, VoIP

Get 24 minutes of free SkypeOut calls (sort of)

by Brad Linder Feb 8th 2007

In celebration of the Chinese New Year, Skype is encouraging you to call "anyone in China, Hong Kong, and Tawain," by giving away 24 free minutes of SkypeOut time. Of course, you don't have to use your minutes to call those countries, but Skype isn't so much giving away 24 free minutes as giving you 50 cents of SkypeOut credit to spend any way you like.

So while 50 cents will buy you 24 minutes of talk time within the U.S. and Canada, or 24 minutes of talk time if you want to call someone in China or Hong Kong, you'll get about 30 seconds of talk time if you decide to call Cuba.

[via Gizmodo]

Tags: chinese new year, ChineseNewYear, skype, skypeout

Filed under: Internet, News, VoIP

Skype changing SkypeOut prices (again)

by Brad Linder Jan 3rd 2007

Skype is set to announce yet another change in its pricing strategy for SkypeOut calls.

In December, Skype announced that it would no longer offer unlimited free PC to telephone calls within the US and Canada. Starting this week, users have to pay $29.95 for a yearlong calling plan (although it's only $14.95 if you purchase a plan by January 31st).

On January 18th, Skype will unveil the next part of its new pricing strategy. It's not clear exactly what that means. It could be a yearly or monthly service plan for calls outside of the US and Canada. Or it could just be a drop in the per minute rates. The only clue on Skype's web site is that the new plan will include "a connection fee of 0 – 0.039 € per call (exclusive of VAT) effective from 13.00 CET, January 18th, 2007."

Of course the easiest way to continue using Skype without paying fees is to make free PC to PC based calls.

Tags: download squad, DownloadSquad, skype, skypeout, telephony

Filed under: Internet, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Commercial, VoIP

Skype to begin charging again for SkypeOut calls in North America

by Brad Linder Dec 13th 2006

One of my first thoughts on realizing that Skype's mobile client would now work with smartphones was "great, free phone calls." I thought about canceling my mobile service, getting a smartphone and signing up for an unlimited data plan -- with no voice service.

Well, that might still work (if you're willing to always use an external headset. Skype won't route sound through your smartphone's speaker), but the calls won't exactly be free.

SkypeOut calls to telephones in the U.S. and Canada have been free since May. But that was obviously too good to last, and the company said at the time that the promotion would only last through the end of the year. Skype general manager Don Albert told the New York Times that people have shown that they're willing to make SkypeOut calls if they're reasonably priced.

To that end, starting January 1st, Skype will charge $29.95 a year for unlimited SkypeOut calling, which is still a pretty good deal if you ask me. And if you sign up before January 31st, you'll get service for just $14.95. If you don't have a plan, calls within the U.S. and Canada will cost 2.1 cents per minute. Rates to other countries vary.

Tags: skype, skypeout, telephone

Filed under: Internet, Windows, Web services, Browser Tips, VoIP

Making a phone list for SkypeOut calls

by Brad Linder Dec 7th 2006

I got rid of my land line recently. I've found that a cell phone and Skype suits most of my daily needs.

But one of the things I'd hoped to do was export my 1000+ contacts in Outlook to Skype to make SkypeOut calls easily. The problem is that Skype doesn't have an easy way to import SkypeOut contacts. You can scan Outlook for a list of people who may have Skype accounts on their PC, but Skype won't import their telephone numbers.

Completely by accident I discovered a workaround today. Someone sent an organizational telephone list to my Gmail account today. Rather than download the word document, I opened it as an HTML document in Firefox. And lo and behold, I was presented with a long list of phone numbers, each with a button next to them for quick dialing via SkypeOut.

Here's how it works. Skype 3.0 beta for Windows includes a nifty new feature that will scan web pages in Internet Explorer or Firefox, looking for phone numbers. If you're looking up a restaurant, for example, Skype will see the phone number on the page and let you click an icon in your web browser to dial and make reservations.

Well, it also happens to work if you happen to get a phone number in your email, or if you open an excel spreadsheet in an online spreadsheet program on the web. So if you want to export your contacts from Outlook to a spreadsheet and upload it to a web service like Google Documents, you'll have 1-click access to all of your contacts. In practice, this didn't work too well for me, as my exported contacts took up a huge amount of space and look unwieldy in spreadsheet form.

But you can create your own list of quick-click SkypeOut contacts just by creating an HTML document with all of your contacts and creating a bookmark in your web browser.

Tags: beta, contacts, skype, skypeout

Filed under: Audio, Business, News, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Windows Mobile, Web services

Skype Out for free in U.S. and Canada

by Victor Agreda, Jr. May 15th 2006

Yep, I just got the official email: "Calls to friends and family on Skype have always been free. Now we've made calls within the US and Canada to all phones totally free till the end of the year. Starting from today it doesn't matter if it's a Skype-to-Skype call or a call to landline or mobile phone - it's free as long as you're calling from within the US or Canada to US or Canadian phone number." Totally awesome. My brother likes to use Skype on his wireless PDA, so I guess I'll be getting a call from him any minute now...

Tags: phone, skype, skypeout, voip

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