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2005-08-05 - Can Skype now replace your existing landline

It is now cheaper for South Africans to use Skype for all calls, whether local, national or international, following the recent announcement of a reduction in SkypeOut call rates. Does this mean it is now possible to give-up on your existing landline?

Skype, the leading internet telephony company, recently announced that in commemoration of the 1st birthday of their SkypeOut service they have dropped their calling rates globally. This is great news for South African "Skypers" as the 22% reduction in SkypeOut rates to South Africa now makes Skype cheaper even when calling locally!

SkypeOut can be used to make calls to any landline number or cellphone number. While not free like Skype to Skype calls, the SkypeOut call rates in the past only really presented a significant saving when calling internationally. This meant switching between a Telkom phone and a PC phone/headset – presenting a bit of an inconvenience unless you had a convergence device like the Dualphone - a cordless Skype & PSTN phone (www.dualphone.co.za).

This has all changed with the recent Skype announcement as it is now cheaper to use SkypeOut versus your traditional landline phone even when calling your neighbour across the street! A Skype call to any landline number anywhere in South Africa costs R0.50 versus the Telkom rate of R0.59 for local calls and R0.89 for national calls. This presents an amazing opportunity to reduce your calling rates but the big question is whether the SkypeOut service is good enough to replace your existing landline?

“In the past I would have said no” says Mvelo Ramba, avid Skype user and sales manager at VoIP distribution company Even Flow Distribution. “But the latest version of Skype is providing a significantly better quality of call even when calling locally.”

Obviously Skype call quality is reliant on the speed and quality of your internet connection but the quality of SkypeOut has definitely improved over recent months. Calls can now be made on any Broadband connection with little to no latency in the call. The growth in Skype users is testament to a good quality product. There are now over 145 million users world-wide!

So what are we South Africans waiting for…. Lets get Skype-ing!

Even Flow Distribution, a specialist VOIP hardware company, distributes and sells a range of Skype and Voip Products. For more information on Skype or Voip, contact Adrian Bush, Even Flow Managing Director on 021-4626798 or go to www.evenflow.co.za for more information.

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