Skype Service (With A Regular Phone Number)

For years I had seen the ads for Skype's free PC-to-PC calls, and for years I ignored the urgings of a friend to sign up for Skype, add a phone number, and have a way to make and receive lots of free and cheap calls. I had more than the phone services I needed and didn't trust him when he said that calls on Skype could be clear and worry-free.

About a year ago, however, I signed up to do some freelance work for a company that matches "providers" with projects. A requirement was to sign up for Skype's free PC-to-PC service, because that was a way to have one consistent calling arrangement shared by all users of the job-match service. This is a well known job-match service, and its choice of Skype led me to believe that my friend's insistence on the quality of calls may have more accurate than I had thought.

So, in view of the fact that my PC could accommodate yet one more program, and in view of my wish to leave my resume on the job-match site, I went to Skype's site and signed up for the free service. While I was there, of course, I saw that I could sign up to get a "real" phone number (complete with area code), so that I could make and receive "regular" calls from any phone - not just from someone else who had a PC with Skype on it.

The monthly cost of getting a regular phone number (complete with area code of my choosing) was only a few dollars a month (few enough to make it appealing, even if I didn't need yet one more telephone number). I don't know if it's because I'm kind of perfectionist and don't like things "half done"; or if it's because, maybe, I'm an "all-or-nothing" kind of person (again, not like "half done" or "half-baked"); but I decided I may as well go with the regular phone. (Maybe my "What the heck" thinking is a sign that even a sensible perfectionist like me has a wild and crazy side.)

Of course, there's the inflexible, stuck-in-tradition, side of me that doesn't like talking over a headset or, even worse, hearing calls come in over my monitor's or PC's speakers. This meant that after happily (but still skeptically) leaving the Skype site (deed done), I would head on over to Amazon to order myself a little business phone. I found a great (and I mean GREAT) deal on a Linsksys Dual Telephony system that would allow me to use the phone for both Skype and the land line. ("A whole new world. That's where I'd be.....") (Words from the theme from Disney's Aladdin if I should give credit here).

Well, it has been over a year now. As far as I can see, and based on my experience, my friend and the job-match folks were right to trust Skype. Not only have I found that making/receiving "work" calls works just fine, but I've convinced a bunch of family members to sign up for Skype.
Calls to land lines and mobile phones don't sound any different than calls made from a land line, and many are better than calls made over cell some cell phones.

Because the little phone I have requires my first thinking about whether I'm using the Skype "part" of the phone or the "regular" part of it, much of the time I don't do that thinking. Instead, I just "do whatever" and make in whatever way comes most automatically to me at the time. Incoming calls can be answered the same way, so unless I see that another Skyper user is contacting me through the PC-to-PC arrangement, I don't always know (or need to or pay attention to) how someone's call has come through on that phone.

When long distance is an issue that's when I pay attention to which buttons I push on the phone.

With the way Skype's "knowledge bank" is set up, and with a somewhat complicated process for asking them questions that can't be answered by something already on their site; I was a little uncomfortable about the customer-service end of things originally. It just seemed like a kind of vague (and even somewhat "weird") set-up. Still, I haven't run into any problems with money or billing; and there is a way to put in a request for personal attention if becomes necessary. It's not as simple as just calling, say, a regular phone service's customer service department (although - really - is that ever all that simple either?). Still, it is possible to get in touch with them. Without a monthly payment to be made, there's far fewer opportunities for error. Skype offers different longer-term stretches between payments, and they also offer a simple "load-the-account" arrangement for anyone wanting to set up a PC-to-Any Phone, prepaid, arrangement (even without paying for a separate, "regular", phone number).

I was at first concerned that my (then) brand new Vista may have problems with their downloads. They offered Vista-compatible downloads, and all went absolutely perfectly. It is probably worth noting that I do have high-speed service. Whether or not my decent-quality phone makes a difference is something I don't know; although I did try a super-cheap VOIP phone (that kind of looks like it came from a bubble gum machine); and the quality seemed great with that too.

Everyone has different machines, different phones, and different Internet service providers; but I don't feel very confident "telling the world" that I recommend Skype. Still, based on my personal experience after more than a year, and based on how much I really love the service, I thought it may be worth mentioning to anyone wondering if Skype is worth it or reliable.