Cheaper than Skype
I have been using Skype since February 2005, mainly because I live in France, but most of my friends and family live in England or the USA.
I'm not really a great phone addict, but I do resent paying through the nose for telephony, just because I live in a different country. Skype, I have found to be cheaper than any other way of communicating as far as telephony is concerned. VoIP definately has to be the way forward as I haven't really found any other satisfactory way that is cheaper than skype.
here's my personal scenario to date:
- My family and I live in France, we're both from England
- my parents don't have a broadband connection, but I can use Skypeout to call them on their normal phone which I can use anytime for around 1€/hour
- my wife's parents don't have a computer at all, so we can call them on skypeout too
- If anybody in England wants to call us they can call my skypein numbers TO whatever country makes sense, for example the UK. This won't make their calls cheaper than skype, but it means they will be making a national, and in some circumstances, a local call rather than an expensive international call.
- If my computer is not on and I'm not connected to the internet, they can always call and leave a message on skype voicemail
The basic computer-to-computer service allows users of the Skype software to send voice or text messages to one another from their computers via the Internet at no cost. Conferences of up to five users are supported.