Skype Out is in!

I used Skype Out for the first time yesterday. This is feature in the Skype Voice-over-IP client that allows Skype users to call landlines. It's not free as with Skype to Skype calls, but it is very cheap; calls to much of Europe, North America and a number of other places cost just over 1p per minute. And so after a couple of hours of chatting to friends in Europe, my Skype Out credit had little decreased, down to 7.80EUR from 10EUR to begin with.

In terms of the actually audio quality I was very impressed, and if anything it sounded louder and more colourful than the audio on my home phone. There was no noticeable lag either, so I was able to conduct a conversation like any other. Most impressive. The only problem I encountered was when I was e-mailing some photos to friend while chatting, where the person on the other end could barely hear me, while I could still here them. Rule to remember: no uploading or downloading while making calls! That was on my 1Mbps broadband connection at any rate.

I have until now been using a few of those networks with cheap international calls, where you dial an opt in number before calling. However given that I've had some problems with their connections, either due to noise on the line, disconnections of generally poor audio quality, I may keep one of them on as a backup, or might even do away with them altogether.

The Skype Out system uses pre-pay, whereby you purchase credit prior to making calls, which in itself is not greatly different to some of the international calling services, such as Alpha Telecom. The advantage with Skype is that the top-up amount starts at 10 Euros, which at £7 or there abouts is neither here nor there. If memory serves Alpha Telecom requires £15 top-ups. Skype is very much hassle free; everything is clearly available on the website - charges for all areas, calls made, credit remaining. I've received unsolicited calls from the Indian calls centres of the calling services I've used in the past, pestering you to buy credit as some special offer is on. I'll be looking forward to seeing the back of those too.

All in all, Skype is a masterpiece of modern telephony. As many people say about the service "it just works!" and indeed it does. The proliferation of broadband makes Skype a must have application, either for calling friends free on Skype-to-Skype, or calling landlines on Skype Out. Just get yourself a headset, or better still, a Skype USB phone to plug into your PC and you're away. I can't recommend it highly enough.