Is Skype really cheap or is it a con?

[RMCF]

I registered with Skype last week and have been chatting away on it for free to other Skype users.

I also decided to buy some SkypeOut credit as I do not have a landline and was lead to believe from their website that it was cheap. Thought I'd save some money on my mobile bill.

I have made a few calls and did not really watch the £ counter in the top of the screen much. However, I just made a call to a mobile in the Rep Ireland and when it connected me the total fell from £10.87 to £9.75 !! The total then remained unchanged for the duration of the call - about 3 mins.

This is far from cheap. Can any regular Skype user let me know why it took £1.12 off my account instantly for this call?

[brookheather]

SkypeOut charges 11.2p +vat per minute to an Irish mobile.

- Simon.

[RMCF]

Just had a look through their price list - landlines are cheap but appears that calls to any UK/Ireland mobile still quite expensive.

No more mobiles for me!!

[Nick_UK]

It's the same with all phone services - as soon as you cross a boundary between one company and another, you start to pay big time.

[kirmy]

whay all of you guys bothered with skype? there are better ones out there
try internetcalls.com its free to all uk and 28 different countries landlines and average charge for mobiles internationally is about 15p. of course you need to get 10 euro credit but hey it lasts 150 days.

[chriszzzzzz]

Originally Posted by kirmy

whay all of you guys bothered with skype? there are better ones out there
try internetcalls.com its free to all uk and 28 different countries landlines and average charge for mobiles internationally is about 15p. of course you need to get 10 euro credit but hey it lasts 150 days.

Are you on commission??? The trouble is you have to leave your computer on constantly to receive calls...I use Vonage and dumped my BT line. I've found it very reliable since i've had it. You can use standard phones and your computer can be switched off.

hi, voip is in its infancy. the way to save money is to use more than 1 service. use skype to skype for free. use sip to sip for free. use talk talk for free uk calls. its like credit card use the best one at the time but all companies must make a profit so be carefull as each company has a diffrent marketing ploy...

[Demon]

Price wise, you just can't beat companies like VOIPCheap... they do support SIP now, so you can use standalone VOIP Hardware, or obivously just use your PC and their software..

You do need to top your account up with at least £10 every 150 days, but at least this is 'call credit', and with free uk landline calls, and in fact free calls to plenty of countries, I can't understand why people think SKYPEOUT is cheap.. it's a rip off.. as are a lot of VOIP Companies that barely undercut BT..

Originally Posted by Demon

Price wise, you just can't beat companies like VOIPCheap... they do support SIP now, so you can use standalone VOIP Hardware, or obivously just use your PC and their software..

You do need to top your account up with at least £10 every 150 days, but at least this is 'call credit', and with free uk landline calls, and in fact free calls to plenty of countries, I can't understand why people think SKYPEOUT is cheap.. it's a rip off.. as are a lot of VOIP Companies that barely undercut BT..

it's only cheap if your phoning landlines, it's probably about the same as BT for any other calls like to mobiles.

[JagoPlasma]

Originally Posted by advancedts

hi, voip is in its infancy.

Should it still be that way tho? i used to work for an isp in 2001 and we had VOIP back then. VOIP has been out ages and i think its really starting to roll now, and even BT have jumped on the bandwagon could you of imagines that 5 years ago?

[safekidda]

If you ask me Sipgate has one of the best deals, no contract or line rental. Free regional number (they have just about every town you could want) then you just pay by top-ups as and when you need them.

Personally i'm not too bothered about the cost of landlines because when i look at my statments all the expensive calls seem to be to mobiles. Sipgate prieces are aprox. 1p/min for landlines and 9p/min for mobiles, they also have partnership with loads of other voip companies who you get free calls to.

I have recently signed up and dealt with their technical support who have been very helpful, they have voip adapters for £50 on their website so there is no need to have a pc whatsoever.

I've recently ordered telewest and saved myself money for line rental i just hope voip works like i imagine.

Originally Posted by chriszzzzzz

Are you on commission??? The trouble is you have to leave your computer on constantly to receive calls...I use Vonage and dumped my BT line. I've found it very reliable since i've had it. You can use standard phones and your computer can be switched off.

I use VoipCheap. When the computer is off any call is forwarded to my answering service at BT where the person can leave a message and I can phone the person back at zero cost.
Yes you do have to have the computer on to make phone calls, but there are voip systems that don't

[JagoPlasma]

i got a bt home hub, now i can have my PC off and use my 360 online AND make VoIP calls at zero cost after 6pm and all the weekend (only time im at home anyway!) best thing is it routes my landline and VoIP calls to and from the same phone just press 5 for a landline call

[KingSkinTim]

Originally Posted by JagoPlasma

i got a bt home hub, now i can have my PC off and use my 360 online AND make VoIP calls at zero cost after 6pm and all the weekend (only time im at home anyway!) best thing is it routes my landline and VoIP calls to and from the same phone just press 5 for a landline call

Deal with BT ? - I'd rather cut my ear off !

Originally Posted by KingSkinTim

Deal with BT ? - I'd rather cut my ear off !

I've recently signed up at http://www.aql.com/telecoms/index.php and found them really easy to deal with and get set up. I would definitely recommend to anyone else!