Is Skype the best way of calling the States from UK?

Question

Is Skype the best way of calling the States from UK?

Answer 1

Skype will even sell you a local phone number in the UK so that it'd be a local call for you to call them and them to call you !

Answer 2

Hiya

Yes if you have skype on your PC in the UK and the States.

BUT..if you would like to use you mobile you can try www.connectmeanywhere.com

United Kingdom 2.5 cents 1.3 cents

United Kingdom Cellular O2 29.1 cents 14.6 cents

United Kingdom Cellular Orange 30.7 cents 15.4 cents

United Kingdom Cellular Other 29.1 cents 14.6 cents

United Kingdom Cellular T-Mobile 31.7 cents 15.9

United Kingdom Cellular Vodafone 34.2 cents 17.1

I use this to call New Zealand every day

Answer 3

I have never used it, but I know a person in China who uses it to "skype" into meetings all the time, so it must be pretty good... I think it also depends on how good your webcam is too (pixel wise and all) =)

Answer 4

It really depends on the call quality your prepared to accept, whether you want to make calls using a headset or a regular touch-tone phone and whether you’re calling other Skype users, landlines or mobiles, John.

If you want to make unlimited calls to other landlines and mobiles, then Vonage would fit the bill. For just £7.99 a month you can make unlimited landline calls within the UK and to landlines and mobiles in the States using a touch-tone phone.

Check out our V-Plan 2 service at http://www.vonage.co.uk/call-plans/vplan...  We are offering a 30 day money back guarantee so by all means give us a try.  And don’t forget that Vonage to Vonage calls are free whichever country you are in and the call quality is fantastic.

Answer 5

i use skype to make online calls, and it's much stable then the others, such as msn....

however i haven't tried it to make calls to line phone or mobile phone....

if you want to make video calls, with muliple party, i think ooVoo is a good way too.....

Answer 6

If you have a BT line you can use many of the callthrough services such as just-dial.com to call the USA for around 1p per min (+call connection charges).

If you want an internet based alternative have a look at some of the standards based VoIP providers such as Tesco Internet Phone or Sipgate. These have similar costs to Skype but allow you to use standard internet phones or adaptors rather than the propriatory Skype hardware.

Edit: I've NOT had good experiences with Vonage though. Crippled hardware and no settings for other adaptors, rather poor support lines and a 12 month contract or £24 disconnection fee! I'n my opinion they should be avoided as should any company that tries to tie you to a contract on such a service.

Answer 7

Overall, Skype is a good solution.  I have used it for years now with good results.

A good runner-up to Skype is Gizmo5.

I also like to use various other SIP based VoIP services that allow BYOD (bring your own device).  In other words, if you have your own configurable softphone or ATA, you can connect your own device to their services.  Some of these SIP based VoIP services are a little cheaper than Skype.

Some of my favourites are CallCentric, InPhonex, les.net, voip.ms, and SipPhone.

And, they are all pay-as-you-go services... no contracts or strings.... so you can't really lose with any of these services...