Going the (long) distance: Skype's new calling subscriptions
Update: Our calling subscriptions have been updated to include Finland, Israel, Moscow, St Petersburg, Buenos Aires and Córdoba (Argentina) – please refer to the more recent blog post for the latest information.
Most people look forward to Fridays (or their cultural equivalent that promises rest, fun and fresh air). Banishing the ruthless alarm clock until Monday morning which, for a brief moment, appears eons away.
Well, my kind colleagues here at Skype have taken a crack at making the world’s Mondays a bit less blue. Enter Skype’s brand new flat-rate calling subscriptions that were announced this Monday, i.e. today. According to the announcement, the subscriptions “signal the first time Skype has offered a single, monthly flat rate for international calling to landline numbers in 34 countries.”
Depending on your location and calling ambition, there are several subscription levels to choose from:
There are no hidden costs or additional connection charges. You will only pay one flat monthly fee, as long as you don’t call premium, non-geographic and other special numbers. And the fair-usage policy will only kick in once you’ve exceeded 10,000 minutes per month. That’s pretty darn generous — as you’d have to talk more than five hours every day for four weeks to even approach the limit.
In which case it’d be a good time to resuscitate your first-person social life. ‘Cause, man, I know they’re addictive, but you shouldn’t go crazy with them unlimited calls, you know…
So I’m limited to 10000 minutes??? Then this won’t work for my girlfriend and I as we’re perma-skypers, i.e. continuously connected by way of love, audio, and video (except for when the line drops, ahem)
Jk…. this is one of the more exciting developments y’all have had for quite some time!
Great news, but what about my SkypePro subscription that is very similar to the new US & Canada plan, but does not include calls to cellphones? Am I automatically upgraded to US & Canada plan?
Same question here… just subscribed to a Skype Pro account with (that’s what the site mentioned) no calling cost per minute for national calls. What’s the catch? Call setup costs?
Great news about these bundles but please keep charging simple… Simplicity and transparency is what skype stay competitive!
@ “What’s the catch? Call setup costs?”
No catch, no hidden costs. No call setup costs. Just the monthly price and you’re done.
To switch from Skype Pro to one of the new subscriptions, just go to http://www.skype.com/go/subscriptions click the ‘Sign Up’ button for your subscription of choice and you’ll be converted from Pro to the new subscription. No need to cancel anything else manually, Skype does it for you.
So what about a skypein number for Canada??? This would make it all work together nicely… then I could just use a skype phone instead of having to pay for a landline… then you’d have my business… any ideas of a launch date?
I very much appreciate this and have signed up right away.
Now I definitely don’t need any landline.
There’s one feature though that I miss and that would make this perfect:
The ability to call from a phone (landline or cell) and listen to the messages on my voicemail. How about extending the SkypeToGo menu with that option?
Thanks!
Hello,
My name is Cristina Dumitru a marketing agent.We analysed your blog and we are interested to enter in contact with you and purpose to become an accredited BLOGGER of Publicationwewb.com.
Publicationweb is an information portal made by the people,for the people.We offer to all and each of you the possibility to have a free and unique right of word.We are the only Web portal on wich all the cities of Canada posses their own personalised homepage.We invited you to visit the http://www.publicationweb.com and find your city.We are searching bloggers wich would like to obtain supplementary space on Web by becoming accredited bloggers and we help them join a niche of supplementary potential visitors.We aim mainly the “baby boomers” by offering subjects who tuch them.To note that is completely free service.
In the pleasure to count you among our “accredited bloggers”,
Thank you!
Cristina.dumitru@publicationweb.com
I have the new World Unlimited Subscription in the US. After my account used up the complimentary US $1.51 Skype Credit, it will no longer call the UK until I buy more Skype Credits. The description says the the listed countries, there is no per minute charges. Is anyone else having this problem, or did I miss something?
Why would I want to get rid of my skype pro and go with the new plan? I am not sure I see a difference? Granted I did not research it all that long. I guess if I wanted to make unlimited world calls I would not have to pay per minute fees for doing so?
please point me to the phone number with person to resolve my subscription problem – have tried with lots of time and effort to find way to take care of this via forum, community, knowledge areas etc… I am giving up and in need of real people to talk to at this point.
any suggestions or directions any one – thanks
Why do we have to pay for online numbers with a world subscription? It’s like line rental from an online VOIP provider.
I’ve been with Skype for over 3 years and when my credit card expired I paid for a refresh on my subscription with the new card in November 2009. Now in March 2010 I’m told my card has expired and have to buy a new subscription. What I’m not told is that my 4 included online numbers now cost $80 per year each on top of the $42 per quarter for the world subscription and call credit!
Can someone explain why Skype would do this to a loyal customer without any notice? Customer services has been really limited in what they can do and most of the community forum posts on the topic block any comments or right of reply.