I keep forgetting to post this, and several of you have mailed in tips about it, and every time I see them I think to myself, “Self, I should totally post about the Skype deal, and soon,” and then I see something shiny and wander off and never post.
Whoops.
Anyway, now through January 31st, 2007 (that’s this Wednesday), you can sign up for a whole year of unlimited SkypeOut for just $14.95, which is half their regular price. Don’t know Skype? This plan allows you to call other Skype users (which is always free) and any regular (non-Skype) phone in the U.S. or Canada for free, and to call internationally at ridiculously reduced rates. All you need is a mic and speakers, or a headset if you’re fancy.
I use my cell phone to make long distance calls, but the reception in my house is pretty lousy. Now for just over a buck a month, I can make those calls from my computer. Works for me.
(P.S. They take Paypal. Put those random eBay earnings to good use!)
woo! thank you mir!
I purchased the Linksys Cordless Phone for Skype and it works fantastically.
Be sure when ordering Skype service you remember to change your default currency to US Dollars. Skype is NOT a U.S. Company (although it is now owned by eBay), so the default currency is Euros. Forget to change it, and you will wind up paying a conversion fee when your credit card converts the Euros to US Dollars (plus you could wind up paying more depending on the rate of exchange at the time of purchase as well).
Skype also offers SkypeIn which gives you a phone number that people with regular phones can call you at. But if you want to be really cheap (and you don’t mind running two IM applications) you can sign up for AOLPhoneline. There you get a free inbound phone number (but the outbound costs as much for a month as Skype costs for a full year), and use that free service for your inbound, and the inexpensive Skype for your outbound.