Skype Is A Cheap Landline Connection

Skype has been around for a while now but I never got around to using it. The reason for this is I didn't know anyone else who used it for me to talk to. I was also hesitant in paying for any calls to landlines because...well I'm cheap. Everything on the internet should be free, right?

Well I got an email from one of my friends saying he wanted to get in touch with me to discuss some issues and to catch up. He recommended trying Skype. So I downloaded and noticed that they offered a flat fee of $3 for unlimited calling in the US and Canada, to "regular" phones. Sounded very reasonable to me, so I went out and bought a headset for around $40. Usually I would have gotten a cheaper one on Ebay or a similar site, but I was in a hurry to try it out. You can get real cheap ones for ten bucks.

Skype Pay Plans

I put $10 on my Skype credit using Paypal and then signed up for the SkypePro which allows for unlimited calls to Canada from Florida (my current destination). The site was actually kind of confusing and I found it geared more so to British market. Everything kept coming up in pounds! But I figured for 3 bucks what could I lose.

Since then I have made numerous calls to various people in Canada under this $3 flat fee. Another great feature is when your surfing the net any phone numbers on any site can be called by clicking on them. They go right to your Skype dialer. Look something up on the online yellow pages and you can just click the number and start talking to them. Don't have to write any numbers down.

Skype Drawbacks

There are of course some drawbacks to the system. Mainly you need a computer and internet access. But they are coming out with cell phones that will use Skype. Only problem is you will need wireless internet to receive and send calls. All and all I would be scared if I was a traditional phone company. I'm not ready to give up my cell. But for three bucks, unlimited calls I will keep SkypePro for daytime and long distance which can skyrocket a cell phone bill.

Try it out.