Skype just released version 4 of their client. They made a lot of improvements, including better video calls and a better layout of the contacts and conversation screens. Remember, it’s a beta version, so don’t go traveling without a backup copy of the previous (non beta) version just in case something doesn’t work right!

Skype 4.0 beta

• 0 Comments

GigaOM has a nice comprehensive article about 7 applications that let you make (cheaper) VOIP calls using your mobile phone. They cover the usual suspects like Skype and Fring, but also several I hadn’t heard of yet.

If you are heading abroad this summer, or just like to tinker with your phone and make cheap calls, then you won’t want to miss this article.

Source: GigaOM

• 0 Comments

If you make a lot of calls abroad (and I mean A LOT), then this plan may be interesting. $9.95 for unlimited international calls to most of the world.

You’ll need to run the numbers carefully as there may be cheaper alternatives for you. Magicjack for example only charges 2 cents per minute to most of Europe (and no more than 2.5 cents for the other countries Skype lists), that’s a whopping 500 minutes till you reach the $10 Skype want (or 8 hours of international calls).

If you call that much to numbers abroad, then you should get the other party to signup for Skype as well so the calls can be free.

NEW YORK (AP) — Skype, the Internet calling subsidiary of eBay Inc., is introducing its first plan for unlimited calls to overseas phones on Monday.

The plan will allow unlimited calls to land-line phones in 34 countries for $9.95 per month, said Don Albert, vice president and general manager for Skype North America.

The countries encompassed include most of Europe, plus Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, China, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Korea and Malaysia.

Calls to domestic land lines and cell phones are included as well, as are calls to cell phones in Canada, China, Hong Kong and Singapore, but not cell phones in other countries.

Skype has already been selling unlimited calls to the U.S. and Canada for $3 a month. It is expanding that offering with another plan, for $5.95 per month, that gives free calls to Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey, and a discount on calls to other places in Mexico.

Source: NY Times (via Flyertalk)

• 1 Comment