Skype launches $9.95 unlimited calls
Skype on Monday launched an aggressive $9.95-a-month international calling plan for U.S. customers that includes landlines and some cell phone calls to 34 countries. The action by the eBay unit comes just days after eBay’s chief executive John Donahoe indicated the auction company will seek to find and improve synergies between the VoIP calling unit and eBay’s core auction operation. The Financial Times also reported that Donahoe indicated that eBay would “reassess” Skype if its “synergies” with the auction company aren’t strong. When eBay acquired Skype, the auction company envisioned sellers and buyers on its popular auction site calling each other over Skype. That activity never gained traction and eBay subsequently wrote off $1.4 billion of the $4.3 billion it paid for Skype.
Skype has continued to thrive and grow with more than 309 million global subscribers using the system for VoIP phone calls, instant messages, and now video calls. Skype built its success on undercutting the prices of established telecom providers, and the VoIP business is continuing that policy with the $9.95 plan it announced Monday along with a variety of other calling plans among 34 countries. The plans cover most European countries, North America, and many Asian countries. For U.S. subscribers, a $5.95-a-month plan covers all of North America as well as major Mexican cities. Skype currently offers a $3-a-month plan for North American calls.
Source: InfoWeek
why not use a real voip service like voipstunt or voipbuster. skype sucks. and will never be a real voip provider. if it ain’t sip it ain’t worth it and skype does not really meet the sip standards.
i dislike skype
magic jack is the way to go…19.99 per year local calls and long distance and international calls are .02 cents a min…easy to use
there are plenty of better options out there, Skype is just easy for the layperson to setup. Go the Sipura 3000 or the Billion 7404.
This whole ‘charging’ issue is bull.
Voip was always designed to be free, that was the whole point of it.. it doesn’t cost a damn thing to talk over the net, just your usual internet fee and that’s it.. it’s only data.
Yet another case of greedy companies charging for what should be (and was) a free service.
thanks for the info guys…I was actually thinking of skype but will check for alternative….;)
Long time Skype user…just ordered MagicJack for a free trial because you seem to get so much more for the price.
can you use any of these services to call land lines and vise-versa? or are these services just for calling other regestered members?
The posting states Skype is going to allow land calls, but the Skype website has no mention of this feature… maybe it’s coming?
I love how it says “unlimited” but really whats up with this? *Unlimited calling: all calls are subject to Skype’s fair usage policy which is set at 10,000 minutes per month (which equates to more than 5 hours of calling per day). Calls to premium, non-geographic and other special numbers are excluded.
That is not really Unlimited. It should really say pay us money to talk on a trial basis cause really your paying for a block of time not unlimited.