Skype in Aus
 

Does anyone on here use skype to talk to their family in the UK? I use it in the UK so I can talk to family and friends in Oz and think it is utterly fab. Does anyone use it to call internally in Aus - is the quality the same as the calls overseas?

Re: Skype in Aus
 

Hi,

We use Skype to call the UK and it works just fine, only the occasional phone call where we fade in and out, and so much cheaper than phone cards. Also ring our son on his computer and link with camera so we can see our grandchildren.

Linda :D

Re: Skype in Aus
 

Yes we use it and find it is a life saver. I think we talk more to the family now than what we did when we were in the UK, not sure if that is a good or bad thing;)

Re: Skype in Aus
 

Nope havent bothered - international calls are cheap as chips anyway so just go with Transact.

Re: Skype in Aus
 

Does it clock up your broadband useage ? I have a broadband package in Perth with Telstra that has a 12Gig monthly limit. Is it going to eat into this ?

Re: Skype in Aus
 

Hi, we have used Skype Out for a few months now and find call quality to be excellent.

Re: Skype in Aus
 

1 Gb for about 40 hours if you count up and down I think

Re: Skype in Aus
 

I have now subscribed to a Skype out number.
I have a local number to call (Perth number) and from dialling that, I can call any of the stored 'speed dial' numbers or any number in the world, for the price of a local call.
I use it most from my mobile phone. While driving home, I'll call my parents in the UK (via the local number) and speak for the cost of a local call, (which is free as it's a company mobile!)
The cost is 3 EUR per month and the calls are unlimited. If I call via a USB phone connected to the PC, the calls are unlimited in length and all for the 3 Euros.

Re: Skype in Aus
 

If you are talking to friends in oz on skype why not ask them when you are talking to them? they will let you know the quailty.

Re: Skype in Aus
 

Why dont you just buy a skype mobile. phone any one in the world for free?
Just put it in your pocket and can use it as a normal phone. Used one for a month now still amazes me!

Re: Skype in Aus
 

I use Skype to cal business contacts because we use Video and I know they will be on. Using it to call your family can be a little involved and time consuming, plus it does clock up the bandwidth if you're on for hours (like my wife) then calling cards are a MUCH better option. Most of them allow you to setup accounts and can get your home number associated with your account so all you do is dial the local access number and your away. My wife is on the phone 2-3 times a week, sometimes for hours, and a $50 (£25) card lasts us months (seriously). We use the GoTalk cards from the Post Office

Re: Skype in Aus
 

I'm in the US, but I love SKYPE. It's fantastic. I highly recommend it. I bought a monthly plan (not sure if they are available where you are). For $10 I get unlimited calls to 34 countries, voicemail and a skype out number. Great stuff. The calls are excellent quality and I use Skype for internal US calls too.

Re: Skype in Aus
 

I have heard that this package is good for heavy users.

Excellent compared to the general standard of phone call quality in the US ? Not really that hard is it :rofl:

Re: Skype in Aus
 

I have a Skype mobile too.
I agree very good, though my problem is I don't too many people that use Skype (parents don't have a PC) etc. The few calls I have msade on the Skype mobile have been excellent.
Any ideas.... can you dial out to a phone number, or ONLY Skype contacts online? Not worked that out yet??

Cheers

Re: Skype in Aus
 

you can dial out to a phone number we use ur skype phone to talk to family who dont have PCs and broadband.

for family with Pcs we use a mix of skype and windows live messenger (msn) as we find that occasionally skype just doesnt work and msn will it is rare that both won't work but does happen occasionally.

I used this combination to talk to my husband twice a day when I was in the UK and he was in Oz:thumbsup:

Re: Skype in Aus
 

I'm not really aware of how the Skype phones work... Do you need to be within range of a hot spot or internet connection or do they work off the telecom towers?

Re: Skype in Aus
 

No you don't need to be in a hot spot. They are always connected via GPRS which is the data side of a mobile phone.

They (the Skype phones) are available from 3 Mobile and they have a Skype button on the phone. Push to connect and it will stay connected and show you as 'on-line' to your friends abroad. You will see when they are online as their colour changes (just like the internet version of Skype) You simply select their name and push to talk. Using GPRS (data) your phone connects and you can talk.
You get 4000 (thousand) free mins per month to use on Skype.

I have made calls driving down the freeway and my Skype buddies cannot believe I am not at my PC in my home. Very good, just do not have many people on Skype to call! :-(

Re: Skype in Aus
 

we use skype all the time, we even have a skype phone which we pay £3 a month and get a local english number and uunlimitedcall to english landline, so people can call us and it costs them a english land line number. We use the video links for the kids to talk to cousins and grandparents. When we arrived we went into rented and telstra was going to charge us $300 to connect phone and then all the normal charges and as we were only going to be here 6 months it was alot, so we got naked boardband and it has a much faster speed than all the phone companies where offering and its wireless.:thumbsup: we love it and all our family and freinds have signed up to it, it has helped with the homesickness. good luck

Re: Skype in Aus
 

ooh never thought of that option. hmmmm

Re: Skype in Aus
 

Hi, could you tell me did you buy the phone in Oz or UK, my daughter is going over in 8 weeks and I want her to keep in touch with me:lol: thats assuming she will want to:lol:

thanks

Dizzy

Re: Skype in Aus
 

Hi Dizzy

http://www.threeskypephone.com.au/ AUSTRALIA

http://www.three.co.uk/personal/prod...kype_phone.omp UK (39.99 GBP on Pay as you go)

I assume they will work when abroad, but check before you purchase.
Neil.:)

Re: Skype in Aus
 

Neil, thanks very much for that:thumbup:

regards

Dizzy

Re: Skype in Aus
 

Neil
Thanks for that it sounds a great idea and a lot cheaper than my $180 a month telstra mobile bill:ohmy:

Re: Skype in Aus
 

Hi we use skype on the pc all the time and its great, But we did buy 2 skype mobile phones in the uk thinking they would work here but they dont! so any one coming out is better of waiting and buying one here....

chris

Re: Skype in Aus
 

Its not a mobile phone it is a dect phone (like a normal digital cordless phone at home, but it plugs into you boardband)it was abut £90 and you can find them on the skype pages. We had it as a leaving present from uk. You just connect it to your skyoe account and away you go. As I said we pay £3 a month to skype for a local english number and unlimted call to uk land lines as not everyone has skype.

The naked boardband is $70 a month up to 24mb with 20g a month download.
:thumbsup:

Re: Skype in Aus
 

Sorry to disagree... it IS a mobile phone.

Check out the website links to 3 mobile.
Regards

Re: Skype in Aus
 

Sorry to disagree back but it is a DECT phone. This phone will not work outside the house away from the base site. It is like a normal digital wireless phone that you would have in your house. When you make a call, it gives you the option of making the call by skypeOut or over the normal landline (as it connects into that as well).

Take a look at - http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/04...tgear_sph200d/

Yes of course you can get mobile phones as well and I also have a LG Viewty U990 that has the skype application on it as well but (in my experience) the voice quality is not as good as my Netgear phone and with my LG u990 the skype application eats the battery.

I hope that this helps someone out there as this is certainly an excellent solution for us.

Re: Skype in Aus
 

Yep - no way I'd buy one of those '3' mobiles. On the road I use Skypeout - but we're getting a Linksys phone for the house. :)

Re: Skype in Aus
 

Hi there,

Can I just clarify something.

You have Australia as your local destination. Do you then pay for the subscription to the world one so that all destinations are charged at the local rate??? Are you charged just for connection when your on your mobile or do you pay per min for the mobile call at the local rate then the pay skype for the cost of a local call.

This looks good and I want to set it up.

I guess if I am not using my mobile to call the UK (I haven't and won't get one of those 3 ones) I could set up a skype uk number so that its just UK costs.

Am I getting the right end of the stick???

Re: Skype in Aus
 

When you have a SKYPE UK telephone number that only assists people in the UK from dialling you. There are only a limited number of exchanges that you can currently get a skype number on. If you are lucky, this will be a local call for a majority of your callers. At worst, it is still a UK number for them to call and callers can use their bundled minutes from their mobiles to use it for "free".

As for the subscriptions from Skype there are two levels. 1) Unlimited calls to 1 country or 2) Unlimited calls worldwide. These are unlimited to landlines as mobiles are extra. These subscriptions are done on a month by month basis so you can end it when you like.

We live in Oz (obviously) and all of our calls are in the UK. So we have option 1 above which includes the unlimited calls to landlines as well as a UK number and voicemail. We also have the Netgear phone (see earlier post for the URL) which costs about £100 and we brought with us. So this DECT phone is connected to our BB router and acts as a home phone for us to dial the UK and for UK people to dial us (as a uk call). Skype does the rest for us :thumbsup:

When you take this option, you can also get the local phone number to dial which allows you to SkypeOut to your chosen destination(s).

I hope that this helps.

NOTE: We have naked DSL and no phone phone line. Skype etc state that they should not be used as a replacement for a landline as you cannot use it for emergency calls. We have mobiles for this.

Re: Skype in Aus
 

Thanks for such a clear reply. I've been trying to get my head around it all and the way you explained it was brilliant.

I need to just check up whether this will all work with my router / modem which it should as this is also netgear.

Is the local number which allows you to Skypeout the one that you've been using from your mobile??

thanks again. Your help has been much appreciated.

Poppet

Re: Skype in Aus
 

p.s sorry to cut across but who do you have naked broadband with and will you stay with that once you move to your own house?? $70 and those speeds sound good. I am pay $50 for 1500kps and 15gb with aapt.

Re: Skype in Aus
 

From my mobile I actually had the skype application installed on it.

With the Netgear phone, all you need is a spare ethernet port on it which most BB routers have on them these days.

The dial out number is part of the Skype subscription service (the unlimited calls to UK or world thing mentioned earlier) and it is called Skype-to-go. There are local numbers in Sydney, Canberra and Perth which doesn't help me in Brisbane. It's easy to setup once you have activated a subscription to the UK.

Hope this helps. I'll pm you about your other question.

Ian.