I’ve been using a combination of services lately to get free incoming calls to my computer and very very cheap outgoing calls to landlines and cell phones within the U.S. and Canada. There are probably other services out there that do the same thing.. and I have researched a few but I’m happy with the price and service I get…
I know a lot of you have heard of, or even use Skype… but I also know there are lots of yous that still haven’t.. Skype, if you haven’t guessed, is where my outgoing phone service comes from.
Of course it doesn’t cost anything going from Skype to Skype worldwide but there is a small cost associated with calling landlines and cell phones. Also, currently, and perhaps this will always be the case… there is no incoming service for Skype for Canadians. That might not be necessary, depending where you do most of your business, because you can just get a U.S. (or other country) phone number from Skype if you want.. but if you are in Canada like me and would benefit from a local phone number (Windsor, Ontario in my case)..I found a free service for that which I’ll tell ya about in a sec..
First.. download and install Skype from Skype.com… it’s free. Then choose a Skype package for outgoing calls. It’s $2.95 per month to call U.S. and Canada and $12.95 for worldwide landline calling. You get 15% off when paying for 12 months in advance which makes it around $30/yr for unlimited land line and cell phone calling in the U.S. and Canada.
Check Out All The Available Packages For Outgoing Skype Calls
Now… that takes care of outgoing calls… now for free incoming calls to your Skype line.. head over to: Ring2Skype and setup an account and choose your country and city and tell them your Skype username. In Canada, the following cities/area codes are currently available… Calgary (403), Edmonton (780), Halifax (902), Kitchener, Montreal, Ottawa (613), Toronto (416), Toronto (647), Vancouver (778), Victoria (250), Windsor (519) and Winnipeg (204)… I hope your city is listed!
Now.. your computer is setup as a telephone accessible from landlines and cellphones worldwide.. and depending on the “outgoing Skype package” you choose… you are able to call landlines and cells in yours and perhaps other countries.
You might need to get a headset with a mic or you can just use the built in mic and speakers if your computer has it. Also, there are cordless phones available on the Skype site so you aren’t tied to your computer when making/taking calls.
And since you are now a Skype user.. here is another way to use the technology…
If you do a lot of business online and it would be handy for someone to contact you Skype to Skype.. you can setup a page similar to how I did at KeithLock.com… where you can have a contact form and plus show your online Skype status. You can get the code for your Skype status badge from your Skype account. I put the Skype status badge in an appropriately sized iframe and set it to refresh every so often in case someone is sitting on the page waiting for me to go online.. I’m sure if you take a look at the source code you can see how I accomplished all that..
If you have any questions..leave a comment or contact me.
April 7, 2010
Miscellaneous