Now that Skype is going to charge for outbound calls, does anyone know of a similar service that is free or cheaper than $14 they want for a year of service?

AJ

ajalan, i always pay outbound calls from skype to regular phones, they are generally 2 US cents per minute.
what is the $14.-?

http://www.skype.com/products/skypeout/

This is the first time I have seen this. $15/year is pretty good -- it's close to a dollar a month. Not bad. But if someone knows an alternative???

I'll repeat chejus' question since this link apparently (to me at least) doesnt answer it.

Skype out has always been 2 cents per minute to US landlines. pc to pc has always been free. This link indicates that nothing has changed at least so far:

http://www.skype.com/products/priceo...ncy=USD&vat=NO

so what is the $14 the OP is talking about?

It is changing Jan 1st. First month is half price, after that $28 a year for unlimited USA/Canada calling.

Why look for an alternative? Is $14 really too much to ask for?

Doesn't seem to be a price change for Australia, the page asks me for $16AU credit, no monthly fee's.

Even if it was $28US for the year, still that's cheap. Most of the people I use via Skype are online and we use text chat anyway. Still have 6 Euro out of 10, 1 year later.

This might help:
http://www.skype.com/products/skypeo...-getunlimited3
This is the new promo fee schedule since the free US/Canada calling is ending by the end of this year. Skype is giving a 50% discount if signup for the new "unlimited US/Canada Plan" before 1/31/2007. (regular annual fee seems to be $29.95)

Or you may read more from the other thread: Skype to Offer Unlimited Calling Plans

For people in the US, and calling the US, Skype has been free for the past several months. That ends on Jan 1 and in addition to the 2 cents a minute like it used to be they are also offering the unlimited plan mentioned above.

Skype to Offer Unlimited Calling Plans
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.

MisterNice

Basically for the $14.95 plan to make sense you need to think you will use Skype to call US numbers for more then 711.9 minutes (11.8 hours). When the price goes up you would need to call US numbers for more then 1428.5 minutes (23.8 hours). If you don't think you would use Skype for that amount of time during a year you would be better off with the per minute plan.

In either case, that is a lot of time to be on the phone.

voipbuster.com

but skype is sometimes better in terms of sound quality when I've called the far east.

Andthe convenience of not having to refill much or at all. I would probably pay the whole amount just to not have to hassle with it.

I use the service from FreeCall.com (one the VoipAround brand names -- voipbuster is another). I have a client in Switzerland and also routinely call Germany (from the US) and it works very well for me. No inbound US DID's (phone numbers) at this point, but may come later.

Another solution for the traveller is VoiceStick.com -- they put there software on USB stick that us usuful if using somebody else's computer. They have US DID numbers.

There's iCall but the quality is pretty crappy. Or GizmoProject but you have to get the other to sign up as a GizmoProject member to call from PC to phone.