Skype goes out to mobile phones

Skype Pro customers can now make international calls from their mobiles or any other phone at Skype Out rates, provided they've pre-registered the numbers they want to call. When an international number is registered with the newly-launched Skype To Go service, a local number is provided as a proxy. The user can call that …

[Anonymous Coward]

Can someone explain....

is it cheaper for Skype to supply the call than a mobile operator, or do the mobile operators just add a huge margin? They both use VoIP international trunks and pay the same termination fees to the telco at the other end of the call don't they?

[Martin Beckett]

Shame on you

Don't you know that mobile operators are dedicated to bringing you the best service at the lowest prices. They go without food and sleep to work there and are only forced to add huge international roaming charges because of a conspiracy of lizard people.

[Nigel]

No pin.... thats madness!

Hi

Aye, but the mobile operators buy the bandwidth for next to nowt then rob us blind when they flog it onto us.

How skype ever expects people to use such a service when there is no security I dont know. Surley having the user enter a pin before dialing the international number is the best way. Additionally, it would not then be nessesary to pre-register any numbers...

Nigel

[David Beck]

What's wrong with iSkoot?

I'm using iSkoot on my mobile (it does need an app) to make international calls via Skype. All the app does is call setup, provide presence information about my Skype buddy list and dial. You can call anyone, its not restricted to Skype users, but it uses more SkypeOut minutes. I've been using it for about a year without problems. I understand that they now have a deal with 3 for some handsets but the beauty for me was it worked with lots of handsets (Java) plus Treos and of course, outside of 3 its still a beta and free (except for the Skype part).

[Martin Eriksson]

I think you're missing the point...

I for one have never used international dialing cards and similar services despite having family in Spain and Sweden, living in the UK and having friends all over the place. Why you ask? Because I don't want to have to dial a number and then input a code and then input the persons number to make the call... Id rather just select them in my adress book on my cell phone and call...

(And if someone has a service better than that they haven't marketed it very well)

I have Skype on my PDA but dont use it because of its sluggishness, and the need to sign on/off before being able to make a call.

So this feature lets me create a local number (that will be included in my stupidly large monthly minutes package anyway so as good as free for me) that is linked to an individual user (hence allows me to store it with that contact on my phone) at SkypeOut rates... Perfect!!!

Face it, the majority of Skype calls are to a fixed number of recipients, and preregistering them is not a big chore...

The pin issue... well if you want to call my mom you're more than welcome to, she'll talk your ear off... ;-) Basically since it goes to a specific recipient I'm not worried about the lack of pin protection on the number...

[chris]

I think you're missing the point....

i use those cheap rate numbers where you dial a lo-rate number then dial the number of the destination. I Just store it all in my phone as 1 long number with pauses between the lo-rate number and the number of the destination. Although i don't use up any of my inclusive minutes, its still cheaper than the skype charges!

[Will]

"There are also security issues;" Are there?

I doubt there are security issues because i simply dont believe that skype will use one number as a proxy for every other number - there simply arent enough around.

I would imagine when you register the number you want to call you also have to register your mobile/landline/other number as well, then when you call the number it sees your CLI and connects to the proxy number for you, this would (will?) allow for the same proxy numbers to be shared with many users.