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Review by BuzzDar 
member for 7.3 years, 1256 visits, last login: 1.9 years ago
lodged 3.1 years ago
 West Frankfort,Franklin,IL
 Contract price not specified.  "Can Call Skype To Skype For Free" "None" "Free Well Worth the Cost of Free"
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Verizon wireless now lets you call free with skype to skype calling. From a Blackberry or Droid Phone.
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Review by rramsey718
member for 11 years, 6 visits, last login: 3.8 years ago
lodged 3.8 years ago
- Powder Springs,Cobb,GA
- $3 per month
- (24 month contract)
 about 1 days- "Inexpensive Telephony Services, can use on Smart Phone and PC"
- "Sound Quality/Echo is intermitten depending on Wi-Fi or data connecton."
- "An excellent value for the money, especially the overseas calling. Reminds me of calling in the 70's/80's"
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I bought a smart phone (Samsung Omnia) but when I found out I had to pay an extra 35-50 bucks for mandatory data services a month to add it to my home account , I decided to just use it as a PDA. Because the Omnia supports Wi-Fi, I signed up for Skype's $2.95 Monthly domestic calling service. Us and Canada.
Downloading to the Omnia was easy using my USB connection. Setting up the software took only a couple of minutes. Setting up the software on the PC was just as easy.
Call quality is directly related to the number of users on the Wi-Fi network and the size of the pipe serving that Wi-Fi node. At home, it is as if I am calling from my home phone most of the time, with occassional lags/delays.
For making cheap overseas calls, it's the way to go. Domestic too if your home phone service doesn't inlcude unlimited domestic calls. It is NOT a replacement for a home phone or cell phone but a money saving supplement depending on the services you subscribe to.
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Review by jimobrien
member for 10 years, 162 visits, last login: 2.5 years ago
updated 3.8 years ago
- Westlake Village,Ventura,CA
- Contract price not specified.
- "Great service. Reliable, global, cost-effective, has video, conference calling, easy to use. Have used it in 37 countries."
- "starting to get blocked by a few telcos in the world, US carriers will follow if not regulated. Great service, no real bad point"
- "Regulation needed to keep these types of great telco innovations healthy."
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Regulators should ensure great telecom innovations like Skype are allowed to serve business. Traveling internationally subjects businessmen to extreme predatory practices - with ridiculous cell-phone rates, and outright-theft-hotel international costs. Business badly needs these types of services. Some telecom companies in the world have moved to sabotage Skype and this should not be allowed. Example of Mexico City where the richest guy in the world has hotel calls to the US at $13 each minute, cell phone doesn't work. With Skype its 3 cents a minute, and it allows business to happen. The days of regulators allowing telcos to flagrantly steal from business travelers should stay in the past, including in the US. Skype has earned loyalty. Disclosure: I don't own any stock or have anything commercially to do with this company. Rarely, a great innovation commands admiration.
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 Review by Gbcue
member for 11.6 years, 6061 visits, last login: 274 days ago
lodged 3.9 years ago
- Santa Rosa,Sonoma,CA
- Contract price not specified.
- "It's a great service, can call other Skype users and 800 numbers for free!"
- "$ Still expires?"
- "It's great to prank call people."
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No other options that were free.
Install software process was quick and easy. Updates are rolled out frequently.
Caller ID shows up as 012-345-6789 - Awesome!
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Review by Cubytus
member for 5.7 years, 150 visits, last login: 220 days ago
lodged 4.1 years ago
- Montreal,QC
- $10 per month
- "Attractive rates, easy to use software"
- "Completely closed system; unreliable call quality; no incoming canadian numbers available; Mac and Linux versions very lacking"
- "Enough for occasional VoIP users or as an inexpensive add-on to cell service"
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They have a quite good-looking website, but it's not that easy to find detailed information on it.
No way to easily contact customer service, although they DO have one.
The software (didn't tried any hardware device) itself is pretty functional and user-friendly, but, on the downsides: Linux and Mac versions are not on par with Windows' one in terms of functionality, and all of them are heavy in RAM, and extremely heavy on the CPU while in call (70% with video on a Core 2 Duo 2,33GHz). If you don't have a big RAM reserve, you don't want to run Skype all day long. And forget about recycling that old PC in a Skype station.
Call quality os very variable. Basically, if you pay for your call, it's excellent. If you use Skype-to Skype service, call quality can be top-notch a minute, and crappy as hell for the next 5. This is due to P2P architecture, but I believe paying customers get a better treatment. Video quality is terrible and choppy, most of the time, whatever some people say. So, far from being stable.
Their system is completely proprietary, and although they advertise it as "secure", I won't trust any company that doesn't publish its security implementations and have backdoors implemented in their software.
That said, it's still very good for occasional user, but one shouldn't take its call quality as a reference for all VoIP providers.
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Review by kristimyers
member for 7.2 years, 832 visits, last login: 1.7 years ago
updated 4.3 years ago
- York,York,PA
- $5 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 1 days
- "Great price, very reliable and fairly easy to use"
- "None, really. I am very pleased. This service would be worth it at 5x the price."
- "A GREAT deal, and worth the hiccups for all the benefits!"
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I am using Skype with the prepaid 1-year unlimited US/Canada with a local phone number. I have it installed on my Asus Eeepc (Linux), my Acer Aspire laptop (1.5 GB RAM, running XP), and my iMac G5 (1 GB RAM, running OS 10.3.9). My connection through Verizon is 3Mbps/200 on a good day.
So far, I have had the best results on the Linux machine and the XP laptop, using the internal mic and speakers. I have found that overall quality is superior to my cell phone (Sprint) and way better than MagicJack or my previous Sunrocket service. I get terrible outgoing voice on my Mac running OS 10.3.9, which I attribute to insufficient resources on the machine.
All of my machines are accessing the internet using my Wifi network, and I am seeing great incoming sound and very good outgoing sound. I do have some dropped calls, especially when my 6 year-old is using the service and talks too low. We have the occasional garbled outgoing sound, but that is quickly fixed by restarting the call and ending processes that are bogging down the internet connection.
I love the Skype software for Mac and XP - it is easy to use and has all the features I could possibly want. So far, I can only get video to work on my XP machine, but it does work very well. I am 100% pleased with Skype to Skype with video, as we use it daily to call a relative in Thailand. That alone is worth any negatives I have experienced.
I am particularly pleased that my little girl can launch and use Skype with no help. Of course I supervise her, but she can open her Asus Eeepc, click on a family member's name, and call without any trouble. The unlimited plan is more than enough to ensure that she can call out of town relatives without costing us an extra penny, and she loves being able to carry her computer around and talk to her family. The Linux version that runs on the Asus is pretty bare-bones and doesn't offer the features I like, but it works for a 6 year-old.
A few weeks into the service, I am very pleased. Skype has replaced MagicJack as my internet-based service of choice, and the features can't be beat. I am telling all of my overseas friends to get Skype so we can call without running up our landline bills.
Cautions: Read the fine print. The Unlimited US/Canada plan DOES have limits, but I think I calculated these to be 133 hours of calls per month to non-Skype users. Also, if you maintain a Skype credit for calls outside your plan, be careful about the kinds of phones you are calling. The overseas pricing can be tricky because certain lines cost a lot more per minute. Also, I wish the Linux software would be more fully-featured. Finally, if you attach a Skype phone to your computer, you may see a SIGNIFICANT decrease in call quality. My first attempt at Skype, using my XP machine, had me using a Skype USB phone (not cheap) plugged into my XP machine. The outgoing sound was TERRIBLE, and I cancelled the service because there was no way to adjust the quality. However, using that same computer without a Skype phone has produced excellent results.
If you are looking for a cheap alternative to landlines, with great quality and the coolness factor, go for Skype. I paid $60 for a full year of service that includes a local number for others to call and voice mail, and it is worth many times more than that.
Update 1/2/2009:
I have been using Skype for about 2 months, and I like it more and more every day. Our calls to Thailand using Skype to Skype are crystal clear, with video and chat working perfectly. Domestic calls are always better than cell phone quality, and often better than our POTS line. Voice mail is 100%, and our dropped calls are at 0%. I never thought I would get such great VOIP service at any price, so I am thrilled with Skype. I now use it for most of my local calls, as it is convenient and keeps my POTS line free. I tried Skype on a conference call through my laptop, and the call quality was far superior to what I could get using my new speaker phone.
I completely recommend SKype, especially with the unlimited US calling for $30 a year. Awesome.
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 Review by swhitney2003
member for 9.9 years, 2443 visits, last login: a few hours ago
lodged 4.4 years ago
- Weare,Hillsborough,NH
- Contract price not specified.
- "Reliable, good quality, very inexpensive"
- "Tech support, website"
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I've been using Skype for over a year now for both making phone calls and video chatting. The price of phone service is amazing. I plan on going to Europe soon, and this is definitely the preferred way to go when making calls internationally. Even better, if someone else is using Skype all the calls are free.
As far as web chatting goes, it works the best out of any other client. When I first got a webcam I spent much time searching for a client that didn't have latency between audio and video, could do full screen, and had good quality. Skype definitely meets all these needs. It will even change quality settings and resolution to adjust for bandwidth issues.
Skype does run in a P2P environment, which some find unappealing. By default, if you have the resources deemed 'worthy' you can become a supernode. This means that others' traffic will flow threw your computer to be routed. This can be prevented by several methods: firewall and a simple registry edit to disable supernode capability.
Great client, great service. Free is always a nice addition.
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 Review by seanieb
member for 5.8 years, 86 visits, last login: 13 days ago
updated 4.5 years ago
- Escondido,San Diego,CA
- $6 per month
- about 1 days
- "Great call quality, PC-to_PC is extremely useful, confrence calling easy Camera chat"
- "Macintosh client is buggy.Documentation is old and is not availible for OS X client"
- "I've been using skype for a few years now, and I finally ditched my phone and went Skype and it's great!"
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For some background I should mention I've been using skype for PC-to_PC in daily use for a while, and I've tried the calling once or twice, but after trying a few companies for VoIP (Vonage, Viatalk, and one other who went out of business) I decided on Skype. So I went and bought a SkypeIn phone number, and the $3/mo US/Canada unlimited plan, and I waited for the credit to drop in to the account off my debit card, and ordered the service!
I couldn't be more thrilled, the calls go through quick, and with a good headset ( I recommend the Plantronics .Audio 650) no one can tell the difference. Caller ID is a plus, and if you add someones number to your contacts their name shows up, Neat.
Only thing I don't like is that the OS X client is buggy, I dual boot between OS X and windows on my Mac, and the windows program is certainly better.
I'm stuck to my desk now which is fine, but I hope to buy a WiFi phone soon for around the house and even if I'm away from home.
So I did the math: The Skypein servuce is $30/year at half off cause I bought a Unlimited plan. Plus $3.95 a month for the SkypeOut unlimited equates out to
$6.45/month
I'm saving a lot of money now, which is more important now more than ever.
Skype is also great for PC-PC calling, and the video chat is the highest quality I've seen.
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 Review by Metatron2008
member for 4.7 years, 2582 visits, last login: a few hours ago
lodged 4.5 years ago
- Stockbridge,Henry,GA
- Contract price not specified.
- "Decent quality, decent service, just decent."
- "None really."
- "Not the best, but certainly not the worst..."
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Skype was my main VOIP provider before it became a pay service. I've used it several times since then, and it's still pretty good.
To be honest, I would use Skype if I didn't need the excelletn call quality of Vonage. And I may switch back soon if Vonage dies...
Compared to the $24.99 month vonage price, the quality and service of Skype for the money is WAYYY better.
Not the best call quality, but a very good service, that doesn't excell in any one thing, but is a jack of all trades. Best way to describe it.
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 Review by fireflier
member for 12 years, 2868 visits, last login: 14 days ago
lodged 4.6 years ago
- Limbo
- $4 per month
- about 1 days
- "Inexpensive, good call quality, highly portable, supports multiple devices"
- "Standalone Skype devices can be expensive"
- "If you have a PC, PSP, or other supporting device, it's well worth it."
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I signed up for a Skype plan to call England. Skype requires no contracts or minimum monthly purchases. You can pay for a plan by the month or you can buy it for a year (or more). In my case, the international plan normally runs $5/month, however by purchasing a year in advance--first I purchased a single month to test the service--it only cost me $49.50. This provides a local number in England and I can make calls to other numbers in England and other callers from England can call my "Local" number to reach me at no cost to me and local rates to them. The plan includes voice mail and call forwarding.
Skype is now standard on the PSP (if you don't see it, update your firmware) and Sony now conveniently sells a "Skype" headset for use with the PSP. Skype also works well on a PC. There are a variety of headset options available for the PC--including bluetooth headsets. My only complaint is that Skype doesn't make it easy to run a "portable" version for PCs such as if you wanted to carry a version on a thumb drive to run without having to install it. It's possible (check Google) but it's not a well documented feature. I've tested the PSP version and it works fine. The PC version now also provides IM and video capabilities to another Skype PC user.
Once I confirmed that Skype would do what I wanted, I purchased a Panasonic Skype network phone (wi-fi). This allows a dedicated "phone" for calls to/from England and doesn't require that a PC be left running for me to receive calls. The downside is that many of the Skype standalone products are still somewhat pricey but the Panasonic device works very well. The inexpensive standalone products tend to be little more than a USB device that simply uses an existing computer to do the processing.
On very rare occasions, I've had some call quality issues like minor echoes or delays, but hanging up and calling back always corrected it.
Based on the monthly cost of my previous land-line long distance plan for calling England--including actual calls to England which were billed per minute (Skype is effectively unlimited), I'm saving over $200/year.
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