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Friday, July 07, 2006
Skype
Since going cell phone-only in January, I've saved about 20% on my phone expenses, plus I get to have a phone wherever I go. Except until next week I haven't had to call internationally, and my cell phone's plan (Sprint) is pretty pricey for calls to Europe: about $0.40/min. So I thought I would check out Skype. I was a little apprehensive, but it's amazingly simple and it works great! I should have gotten it a long time ago. All I had to do was buy a headphone/mic that plugs into my computer's USB port ($52 at Staples) and download a piece of software, and it worked great the very first time. Call quality was fine--a little hiss here and there, when I called my mother in New Mexico, but otherwise very clear. Skype's offering free calls to landlines and mobiles in the US and Canada until the end of the year, and phone calls to land lines in Europe are only $0.021/min. David says, check it out.
There are other VOIP providers out there, too.
ReplyDeleteIf you wish to play-around with VOIP to see how it works, etc. and often talk to people in the UK, check-out www.voipuser.org who can give you a free UK phone number and as long as outgoing calls are no more than incoming, the calls are free.