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Skype Mobile Phone Launches Overseas
$100 in nine countries, none of them named 'U.S.'
(old news - 01:37PM Monday Oct 29 2007)
tags: wireless · alternatives · VoIP
Tipped by TKJunkMail See Profile

Skype and European mobile phone carrier 3 will launch the new Skype mobile phone November 2 in the UK, with additional market launches coming shortly in Australia, Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Italy, Ireland, Macau and Sweden.

The phone, the first to have integrated Skype functionality, will cost about $100. There's no SkypeOut -- users can call other Skype users for free, but calls to non-Skype users are routed traditionally across 3's network.

At the moment, Skype has stated that there's no plans to bring the device to the United States. Video previews of the phone can be found here and here.

Related:
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  5. AT&T Looking For Femtocell Testers
  6. Verizon's Open Development Initiative? So Far It's A Joke
  7. Skype Hits The iPhone
  8. Google Voice Invitations Going Out
Forums » Skype Mobile Phone Launches Overseas
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inteller
Sociopaths always win.

join:2003-12-08
Tulsa, OK

so let me get this straight...

it is pay as you go, but calling other skype users is free. there is no Skypeout, but calls to non skype users are routed over the 3 network....uh isn't that the same as skypeout?
jebba2005

join:2005-01-13
Portland, ME

1 edit

Re: so let me get this straight...

I think Skype Out is a pay for the ability to call real phones from Skype on your PC.

»www.skype.com/products/skypeout/

a333
A hot cup of integrals please

join:2007-06-12
Rego Park, NY
·Cingular Wireless
·Verizon Online DSL

well, the article says traditional call are routed over the cell network.
That basically implies that SkypeOut calls don't even exist!
Skype-Skype calls go for free, but there's no way in hell that a cell provider will actually market a service to cannibalize their existing services. (Well, u can go buy a smart phone over here, and get EV-DO service on it. Then its just a matter of loading Skype software on it.
So yea, if a cell provider itself actually advertises low-cost Skype-out calls, thats the end of their actual cash cow business.
Talk about marketing gimmicks.........
garmst

join:2000-09-17
New York, NY

Who needs this phone?

I have Skype on my PPC-6700 from SPRINT. Plus I have SKYPEOUT to boot! Am I supposed to cry?

Yippz Voip

join:2005-05-04
Atlanta, GA

Re: Who needs this phone?

said by garmst See Profile :

I have Skype on my PPC-6700 from SPRINT. Plus I have SKYPEOUT to boot! Am I supposed to cry?
You will when Sprint shuts your phone off for violation of your TOS -- no voip calls on your PPC-6700 -- Enjoy the $175 termination fee too...

a333
A hot cup of integrals please

join:2007-06-12
Rego Park, NY
·Cingular Wireless
·Verizon Online DSL

Re: Who needs this phone?

ehhh, dude, you DO realize that Sprint is one of the few carriers that actually ENCOURAGE VoIP and multimedia streaming, don't you?
Also, unlike verizonWireless, sprint PowerVision actually was built to stream live TV and Radio, unlike Verizon's joke of a network........
Ever noticed that sprint users have reported downloading over 40 gigs in a month, and still never got shut off?
wow, self pwnage at its very best....

wesm
tmb.org
Premium
join:1999-07-29
Lewisville, TX

hmm..

I think, for once, I'm not impressed. Usually when a new phone rolls out overseas, I'm all for it. This time, all I get is a device that lets me use it to chat with other Skype members for free; I don't even use Skype, much less to chat with other people. Other than that nifty trick, it's a regular mobile phone.

Neat idea, but not too useful in the US where night/weekend minutes are usually free, along with M2M and bountiful daytime minutes.
--
Opinions expressed here are mine and not my employer's. This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

njalondon

@bulldogdsl.com

look at the bigger picture

With Skype functionality, the phone bypasses the traditional phone network, in Europe where there are almost as many countries as the USA has states the person can be called using skype for free, no international toll charges. The caller and the callee both pay nothing, also with "3 like home" the phone can roam internationally and continue to use the skype functionalty for free on other 3 networks.

wifi4milez
Big Russ, 1918 to 2008. Rest in Peace

join:2004-08-07
New York, NY
·Verizon FIOS
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·RoadRunner Cable
·BroadVoice

I bet it sounds like crap!

I can tell you from personal experience attempting to use Skype on both EVDO and HSDPA connections that it sounds terrible. Heck, even 80% of the Skype calls made from my PC sound like crap! I dont think I have ever had a Skype call without a one second plus delay and background noise, and thats why I dont use it. I even went and bought a special adapter that you connect to your PC, and then you connect your regular telephone to it and it routes your calls over Skype. Pure garbage...............
--
я люблю Денди!
elray

join:2000-12-16
Santa Monica, CA

Skype is as Skype does

You can have it.

C'mon, its based on peer-to-peer networking of Windows PCs.
Of course it sounds like crap, every time.

Competitive international long-distance services are cheap enough that no one needs to bother with Skype.
pabster

join:2001-12-09
Waterloo, IA

Re: Skype is as Skype does

Skype works great. And just to inform you, it runs on a lot of non-Windows boxes too.

Sounds like you have a crappy PC, crappy sound card, and/or a crappy microphone/headset. That's your problem, not Skype's.

h4x0r3d
Premium
join:2003-04-13
Oxford, MS

Re: Skype is as Skype does

exactly ive never had a problem with skype

Don Pasquale

@comcast.net
Yeah...and 2 crappy phones too ! ha !
jebba2005

join:2005-01-13
Portland, ME
Works great here on Windoze and Linux. I use it to talk to my sissy on the West coast and one of my good friends in southern Florida.

MysticGogeta
The Robot Devil
Premium
join:2005-03-14
League City, TX
clubs:
Uh your dead wrong it works on Linux and Mac and Vista. Get your facts strait before you troll.
--
Team Discovery-Join the fight
Forums » Skype Mobile Phone Launches Overseas


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