If you haven’t yet tried Skype, you really ought to, wherever in the world you are. I’ve written a couple of posts this past week about it. I’ve now been using it, and in my experience it is as good as the makers say.
So far, I’ve made calls with Skype to landlines and mobile numbers in The Netherlands, Costa Rica and the UK. In every case, the conversation quality is at least as good as if I had made those calls from a normal phone. That’s a big differentiator between Skype and other internet-based phone systems. The really big benefit, though, is cost – ridiculously cheap compared to a normal phone call. Example: a 50-minute call to Costa Rica cost just €2.52 (about $3 US). Making that call via my KPN landline in The Netherlands would have cost about €20. Now that’s a differentiator!
If you call another Skype user, the call is 100% free. Last night, I spoke with Shel Holtz, a friend and colleague in California who just installed the software. The call quality was excellent, as if we were in the next rooms to each other. Read what Shel has to say about our little experiment!
As it says on the Skype home page this afternoon, 18,353,090 downloads and counting…
Skype vs. Vonage
On Neville Hobson’s recommendation, I tried Skype today. Download and installation were a snap, following which I called Neville. I’m in the San Francisco Bay Area, Neville’s in The Netherlands.
You can reach Costa Rica on yours? I haven’t been able to since I subscribed.
http://epistolary.org/s-20066.html
Yes, works perfectly on calls to Costa Rica. Some difficulties about a month ago, but fine now. Skype-to-Skype has always been good but to C.R., it’s more SkypeOut, calls to normal phones. Well, it’s just good!