Re: Using Skype to Call NANP Numbers

> What wasn't clear to me from the announcement was whether the call is
>> free if it's placed within the US and Canada, or whether it terminates >> whithin the US and Canada. The former implies originating in the >> targeted area, whereas the latter could originate anywhere. > The latter, calls to US and Canada numbers are now free. (You would > already know this if you had spent 10 seconds pointing your browser at >
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.) Skype has only the vaguest idea of where > you're located.

Well, I did. And the precise wording on the Skypeout page (which is the service that changed) states:

"But remember, you can make free calls within the US and Canada to both landlines and mobile phones until the end of the year."

It also goes on to say,

"If you're in the US or Canada and want to call local numbers (these are US and Canadian landlines and mobile phones) then all you need to do is open up Skype, enter a phone number, hit the big, green, friendly call button and start talking. And best of all these calls are entirely free until the end of the year."

Also, their rate page says, "Calling within the US/Canada", not "Calling to the US/Canada"

To me that seems to indicate that the free calls only apply to calls made from the US/Canada to the US/Canada.

Given the nature of VOIP I would expect that the country of origin wouldn't make a difference. But I don't proclaim to know the specifics of their proprietary protocols.

> I'm curious, though, because I know someone in Afghanistan who uses >> Skype to communicate with relatives in the US. It would make a huge >> difference to him. > Since the rate used to be about two cents a minute, he must be making > some impressively long calls.

OK, maybe "huge" was the wrong word. :-) He's a friend of a friend, and all I really know is that he's been using Skype-to-Skype calls to save money.

John Meissen snipped-for-privacy@aracnet.com