As I wrote in this post, I signed up for Skype’s monthly subscription service last spring. At first, I was just curious about it and didn’t expect much. Now I can say Skype is really valuable for anyone who often calls internationally.

Skype to Go Number
I found Skype to Go Number especially useful. “Skype to Go Number” comes with monthly subscription. What you get is a local number you can call from your cell phone or any other landlines. The following shows how you can set it up once you signed up for monthly subscription.

• From your computer’s Skype program, choose “Skype” then “Account.”
• Click on “Skype to Go Number.”
• If I remember correctly, then you’ll see a list of available numbers. You pick the area code and the number you want. I picked the number with the same area code as my cell phone’s.
• Then, you need to register/save the phone numbers you want to use to call Skype to Go number. I have 2 phone numbers registered: one is my cell and the other is my office phone.
• If you have international phone numbers you call often, you can register them as speed dial contacts from within the Skype software. (You don’t have to have speed dial contacts but you know it’s not fun to dial 16 numbers every time you want to make a call.)
• With Skype to Go Number and the saved speed dial contacts, the rest is very very easy.

You call your own Skype to Go Number from your registered phone and follow the direction. Basically, it’s pressing 1 for calling one of the speed dial number or 2 for calling any other international number. You don’t need to remember each of the speed dial number, it will be read out to you…. “Press 1 if you want to call Jane….”, etc. This is what I call a no hassle international call. I can use my cell phone or office phone to make a call, not from my home PC where I installed Skype software.

Before I cut the cord of a landline telephone, I needed to do a little thinking about the replacement for my regular phone. Should I go cell only or go VOIP? If going VOIP, which service? Finally, I decided to use Skype.

The reasons I decided to use Skype were:

• I’ve already used a free Skype service and was satisfied.
• International calls to certain countries are unlimited for a low fixed rate. The price was $9.95/month when I signed up. They raised a price a few days ago, so now it’s $12.95/month. I make international calls to 2 countries. Even though I use discount phone cards and I don’t call often, it still adds up.
• There is no long term contract. You can choose pay as you go or monthly subsription.

The reason I chose to get a paid service, monthly subscription, is that not everyone I call is capable of computer-to-computer calls. With a flat monthly subscription fees and no hidden/additional taxes and fees, I still save some money since my monthly landphone bills were around $50/month.

Skype to Go
In addition, a “Skype to Go” number comes with a monthly subscription. Essentially, a “Skype to Go” number allows you to make international call from any phone including cell phones. So, I can use my cell phone, my work phone, or my friend’s phone to make international calls by calling a local “Skype to Go” number. I tested it. It works fine and the sound quality is excellent.

Online Number
A “Skype to Go” number comes with a monthly subscription but you need to purchase “online number” if you want a number where other people can call. Since I have a cell phone and a cell phone plan with a plenty of minuites, I didn’t have to buy an online number. But I wanted to have a landphone equivalent for some reason (probably sentimental reasons). The big advantage of having an online number is for frequent international travelers. I purchased an online number that has the local area code. So, as long as I have a computer with Skype installed (my laptop) with me and as long as my laptop is connected to the internet regardless of my location in the world, my friends here can call me by dialing a local number and talk with me. That’s pretty neat.

As a subscriber, I got 50% off of a purchase of an online number, so I paid $30 for a number I can use for a year. That’s $2.5/month. Not bad at all. By purchasing the number for a year, I may have committed myself for a year. But I can cancell my subsription without a penalty and not using the online number I bought fully. This is just so different from cell phone companies’ 2 year contract deal. I think most of cell phone providers charge $175 or so for an early termination of the contract.

Technical Glitch about Sound Card — Solved quickly
After a few days of use, I noticed one very annoying glitch about Skype. If I watch Youtube videos or listen to music on my computer, Skype software stopped responding to calls or could not make outgoing calls saying that “No sound. There’s a problem with the sound card inside your computer.” Every time it happened, I needed to reboot my computer to fix it. It was quite irritating. Then, I checked the audio setting in Control Panel. The default device was set to Total Recorder (software to record sound), so I changed it back to my computer’s audio card. That fixed the problem quickly.

Overall
I am very pleased with Skype. I recommend it for anyone who makes international calls or anyone who goes abroad often.