RSSSkype to Offer Unlimited Calling Plans
By Ed Oswald | Published December 13, 2006, 11:30 AM
Following its successful promotion through the end of this month that allows for free phone calls to the US and Canada, Skype is now offering an unlimited calling plan that will allow users to make calls to both regions for a period of 12 months for under $30 USD.
The new plan is the first time that the company is offering an unlimited service package, and is aimed at luring more of its 136 million plus global users to sign up for premium services.
Customers in the US and Canada will be eligible to sign up for the service. Those who sign up before January 1, 2007 will receive a special introductory rate of $14.95 USD, plus 100 minutes of credit for international calls and $50 in discount coupons for Skype-certified products.
Skype's pay-as-you-go plans will remain, where calls to US and Canadian numbers are charged at 2.1 cents per minute. However, Skype says it wants to give its customers a choice between the two plans.
"The new Skype Unlimited Calling Plan is an affordable option that will save consumers and small businesses hundreds of dollars compared to high rates charged by traditional phone companies," Skype North American vice president and general manager Don Albert said.
VoIP is becoming a more popular way to make telephone calls, and a recent study showed that one out of every five telecommunications customers in the US are using some type of VoIP service in their homes. Another 13 percent expect to use the technology within the next year.
Among those already using VoIP, Skype leads with 29 percent of those consumers, the study found.
The unlimited US/Canada plan is for $14.95 prior to January 31,2007
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|Ok, so how would I call my cable company if my connection gets flaky?
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|Duh, use your cell phone.
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|Righteous!
(Thanks, eBay.)
Addendum: BTW, the Skype site states the $14.95 offer is good through Jan. 31, 2007 and not Jan. 01 as stated in the article.
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|I have Vonage and I have never had a problem. I love all the extra things you can do with Vonage (i.e virtual numbers etc etc).
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|Lets see, $30 for unlimited calls, or 24.95 with vonage which also works as a regular phone line not requiring a pc...Gee, toughie. Vonage wins. no, wait Skype wins no, Vonage..no..Skype.... Hold on I'll be back in 15 secs after I read the article.
Like I said Skype wins:-) LMAO
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|Already signed up. Took like 5 minutes. I got SkypeIn for $38 for 12mo too while I was at it. I was surprised that the inbound number worked right away. I was a bit disappointed that they don't seem to have a "phone" yet that works without a PC other than the WiFi models. I'd like one that doesn't require a PC like the analog to SIP boxes that VoIP providers have.
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|This should start to disrupt things.
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|Lets see, $30 for unlimited calls, or 24.95 with vonage which also works as a regular phone line not requiring a pc...Gee, toughie. Skype wins
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|Another day, another smart alec comment by someone who didn't read the article -
Look very closely: 1 month or 12 months
Disclaimer: I am not a Skype fanboy and do not even use Skype at this time.
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|Yeah I believe the comparison is $30 per year with Skype ($15 before Jan 31) or $300 per year with Vonage. Yes the downside of Skype is it is only voice out but they are working on voice in from what I have read. Gee, toughie
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|And you are talking about what exactly? I clearly stated that I was for skype.
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|So at the end of the first month you've paid $24.95 for unlimited Vonage calls and I've paid $30 for unlimited Skype calls. At the end of the second month you've paid $49.90 and I've paid $30. Third month: $74.85 and I've paid $30. At the end of twelve months you're out $299.40 and I'm out $30. That's a $269.40 savings. Even if I pay AT&T $17 per month for local phone service I'm still saving $64.40 per year by going with Skype as opposed to Vonage. That's if I want unlimited calling. I can normally get by with $10 to $15 in Skype calling credits. Without an AT&T line I'm pocketing $284.40 to $289.40 a year that you don't get to keep. With the phone line it's still $80.40 to $85.40 more than you.
Now what was your argument again?
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|Not before you edited your post you didn't. At 12:46pm your comment didn't say, "Skype wins." at the end. You tacked that on at 2:07pm after at least three people had pointed out the idiocy of your comment.
Nice try.
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|ok let's not beat up on the guy too much - none of us are perfect!
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|Actually, no, you misread my post. It said exactly what it does now when I first posted. The edit you point out was correcting a punctuation usage problem that I noticed in it when I returned to this thread. I really dont care if someone points me out as being wrong, when I did post something wrong, but i did not in this case. So, unless you have a screenshot, please stop flaming me for something I didnt say or intend to say.
If you feel the need to reply and say otherwise still, go for it. I am moving on :) Have a good one
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|Again, did you not notice I said SKYPE WINS?
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|Here's a screen-grab showing your post as of 12:46pm. Notice there is no "Skype wins." at the end. If you were, as you falsely claim, "correcting a punctuation problem" then your statement would be complete in that picture.
http://img100.imageshack...age=originalpostwt7.jpg
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|Can we just get these two a pair of flintlocks?
;-)
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|Seems from the message that it's 30$ for the year, not per month. Maybe I'm misreading it, but... 30$ for a year beats 300$ (25*12), personally.
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