PlusOne - Musings of a marketer

A while back I wrote about how Skype, the internet VOIP service could be used to provide a cheap international presence for your business (see this post).

I have been using Skype to talk to clients from all over the place, but only recently started to use the SkypeOut service to replace normal phone calls. I was prompted by a business contact who used Skype in their business as a replacement for a normal telco account.

The first task is to buy some call credit. This is sold in 10 EURO lots, so that is equivalent to around 530 minutes at national call rates here in Australia - and the same to call landlines in the USA, UK and about a dozen other countries. This purchase process is straightforward using a credit card.

One aspect is that all numbers have to be dialled as if it is an international call, using country code, even if it is only a local call. This is not too big a problem for frequently called numbers, as it is simple to add to contacts and then just call that way. It will prove to be a bit less convenient for ad hoc calls, but no doubt I’ll get used to it.

When calling, there is a delay of a few seconds before the line connects and the ringing at the other end can be heard. This is slightly disconcerting for the first couple of times but something I quickly became used to. Call quality is very good. Clarity is good, but there is a slight delay between speaking and listening. Also you cannot both speak at the same time as with a landline. This is not a problem and a conversation soon adjusts.

Providing you are on a broadband plant that gives you a reasonable Gb allowance, then Skype, at 3 cents Australian or about 1.7 EURO cents per minute can lead so some considerable savings on phone bills. More information on Skype and their call rates for countries all around the world can be found on the Skype site.

For me, I think I’ll be using Skype for all my long distance calls.