With the latest Skype, the calls to landline and mobile phones within the US and Canada from the computers in the same region is going to be free atleast until the end of this year, i.e. 31 December 2006. As announced yesterday by the Skype®, an eBay company (NASDAQ: EBAY), the users will be able to use SkypeOut without paying a dime and make the calls. Ofcourse, the calls to other countried continue to be at the published rate. The same applies to the calls made from outside the region to the US and Canada. From their blog:
Is it really free? What are the strings attached?
Yes. It is really very, very free. There’s no prepayment, no minimum use, no subscription, no monthly fee, no nothing. You just download and install Skype and then you start calling. Both the caller and the number called must be in either the US or Canada. There are no strings attached.
The only condition is that we have said free SkypeOut within the US and Canada is guaranteed to last until the end of this year — that is, until December 31, 2006. We’re not quite sure yet what we will do after that. Maybe we extend the free period, maybe not. You’ll hear more about this towards the end of the year.
Until then, happy calling.
