26 April 2007

Free worldwide telephone calls

By Jim Pinto

Until recently, I have been making international telephone calls to friends and family at a steep price. Then I noticed a friend chatting endlessly with someone in Colombia, seemingly un-concerned about the cost. I discovered they were talking on Skype—FREE calls, for both sides, anywhere in the world.

For Skype to be free, both parties must have Skype installed on a PC, with a speaker and microphone and an Internet connection (low-bandwidth phone modem is OK, but higher-bandwidth is better).

It turns out you can also use Skype to call any regular phone number (so the person on the other end does not need Skype, too). That used to be free to anywhere in the U.S. and Canada until the end of 2006; after that, to some of the most popular worldwide destinations, the unified rate is about $ 0.02 a minute.

I installed Skype. It was easy; it took just a few minutes without any problems. I looked up friends all over the world through a “search” utility—you’d be surprised how many people are already on Skype. Every time one logs on to Skype, they show the number of other people connected—usually about of 5-7 million.

I really do not know why I had not “discovered” Skype before. I’m a Skype-maniac now. On a recent trip to Las Vegas and Houston, I had a good Internet connection in my hotel, and so, rather than incur roaming charges on my cell phone, I used Skype on my laptop instead. And you know what, it was great. The people I talked with were totally unaware that I was making a Skype call. And there were no “dropped calls.”

I was surprised at how many friends and acquaintances DO have Skype. But, of course, it means they have to be connected to their computer when I call. But hey, to save big bucks I call my brother in India and tell him to get ready for my free Skype call. Then, I run out of things to talk about after some minutes anyway. I just do not know how some people seem to be able to talk for hours.

Related links:

• Download Skype for Free phone calls:
  http://skype.com/download/
• Free Internet Phone Calls:
  http://freebies.about.com/cs/faxphone/a/internetcalls.htm
• Making phone calls over the net:
  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4254399.stm

Behind the byline

Jim Pinto is an industry analyst and founder of Action Instruments. You can e-mail him at jim@jimpinto.com or view his writings at www.JimPinto.com. Read the Table of Contents of his book, Pinto’s Points at ww.jimpinto.com/writings/points.html.