Skype : 25% Share of International Calling Minutes

Skype share of international calling minutes has increased. TeleGeography show that growth in international call traffic has slumped while international traffic from Skype users continues to accelerate, and that Skype’s share of international calling minutes has grown to an estimated 24.7% during 2010.

This clearly proves that people are now switching to Voip for their calling needs. People are now saving money by making voip calls. It will be interesting to know the comparison between normal telephone calls and voip calls. What percentage of international calling minutes does Voip calls share !

TeleGeograhpy reports : "Cross-border traffic routed by Skype, by far the largest provider of Internet-based voice communications, is projected to grow by an astonishing 45 billion minutes in 2010—more than twice the volume added by all of the world’s phone companies, combined."

Source : http://www.telegeography.com/mail/tg_press_2011.html

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Quality : Skype Voip Phone Calls

Just received an email from Skype voip blog "It's all about quality". I really liked the content of the mail where it talks about the quality the Skype offers and always want to offer to customer.

Let me share some snippets of the mail with you all.

"While Skype wasn’t the first company to allow Internet calling, Skype was one of the first companies to make Internet calling work for the masses. Whether doing a Skype-to-Skype call for free or calling any phone for very little, people have spent over 520 million minutes on average every day talking to people with Skype. "

"our average monthly connected users grew from 91 to 124 million in the last year alone (June 2009 - June 2010). We will continue to build products and features with the level of quality that keeps our community connecting with one another."

"In fact, one seemingly simple feature that the Skype team hears loudest is our end of call customer feedback, where everyone has the opportunity to rate their experience after they make a Skype call (depending on which version you are on). Every score we receive is used to rate customer experience for our different desktop products. For people making paid calls to regular phones, we use the feedback to rate our carrier partners."

"One good example is Argentina. Average feedback scores for calling Argentina were lower than overall scores in South America. This prompted us to start looking for local options. After establishing cooperation with a major local network operator, we saw feedback scores rise sharply - from 3.5 to 4 out of 5 maximum. At the same time, call volumes increased over the next three to four months."

Customer feedback is the best way any company could improve upon, and its really nice if Skype really takes action depending on the customer response. I wonder how many other voip provider do the same. Cheers to Skype !!

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Free Calls offer on EID : Wish EID for free

Firstly Happy EID to all my blog readers. The festive season is around and its time voip companies have started offering free calls. Skype, one of the voip industry leaders has announced its new offer so that everyone can wish their relative and friends on the occasion of EID.

If you've never tried using Skype to call a landline phone or mobile, now's your chance to discover what else Skype can do. Skype is offering 1 million free voucher giveaway so that can call around the world for up to 30 minutes.

This way Celebrate Eid with free calls to friends and family all over the world from Skype. Getting this free voucher is very easy, but to bring to your notice - these vouchers are limited in number so you should probably not wait and grab your voucher now. The buzz about this free voucher giveaway is already spreading and soon these vouchers will be finished.

To get this free 30 minute calling voucher by Skype and make free international calls :
1. Visit Skype promotion page.
2. Enter your email address and wait for the confirmation. Skype will then email you a special code to claim your free Skype Credit so you can start sending Eid wishes.

Here is the terms and condition about this new offer:

Offer subject to availability, limited to one million vouchers in total. Only one voucher per email address. No cash alternative. Skype reserves the right to exclude participants from the offer in the event of suspected abuse or fraud. To redeem your voucher and make Skype calls, you must have a registered Skype Name and an internet connection. The Skype Credit will be applied to your Skype account. 30 total minutes is based on a single call to a landline at the rate of €0.02 per minute. The actual number of minutes you can redeem with this offer may vary based on your calling destination and whether you call landline or mobile phones. A connection fee applies. Redeem your voucher by 31.03.11.

PS: We also have a Rebtel special bonus offer running, where you get free $5 credit on use of a special coupon code.

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Skype 20% discount on 12 months subscription plans

Voip providers have once again started coming with new offers, new plans to enable your make very cheap international calls. Last week we announced a promotion offer (with coupon code) by Rebtel so that you get some free bonus credit and make cheap calls to India, and now Skype is offering some discounts.

Just now I received a mail from Skype, about offering 20% discount on 12 month subscription plan. Many people use Skype as a primary voip provider and others as secondary, having a permanent account with Skype using it now and then. For those, this discount offer is really good. But for those who are looking for pay as you go options and not for monthly subscription plans (that too annual), then Rebtel is a good option.

So below is the content of the mail.
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When you think of Skype, you probably think of video calling – rightly so as 40% of all Skype-to-Skype calls include video. At the same time, you still want the flexibility to call your friends, family and colleagues wherever they are – which is why Skype makes it possible for you to call any phone, almost anywhere, at unbelievably low rates.

Whether doing a Skype-to-Skype call for free or calling any phone for very little, people like you around the world have spent over 520 million minutes on average every day talking to people with Skype.

For the next week only, we are offering a 20 percent discount off all 12-month subscriptions. Sign up right up now and enjoy talking to your contacts longer, for less.

With over 3,600 types of subscriptions to call over 170 countries, you can stop watching the meter and talk for longer. A monthly subscription gives you the freedom to reach one or multiple countries for as cheap as €0.89 ($1.09/£.69)* per month, with rates as low as €0.01 ($.01/£.01) per minute to almost any destination around the globe.

For example, you can call the following destinations from virtually anywhere in the world for as low as:

€ .01 per minute to China ($.02/£.01)
€ .01 per minute to the United Kingdom ($.02/£.01)
€ .02 per minute to India ($.02/£.01)
€ .03 per minute to Mexico ($.04/£.03)

That means you can call these destinations cheaply whether you are in San Francisco, Buenos Aires, Cape Town or almost anywhere in between.

And if you prefer the flexibility to pay as you go, you can buy Skype Credit to make calls at low rates.

*.€1.02, $1.25, £0.79, including VAT where applicable
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Skype reduces call rates to India

Skype has once again some news for all the people making voip calls to India. Skype has again reduced its calling rates to India offering a cheaper voip plan. The news is official with a post on Skype voip blog and the rates are also updated on Skype website. This means that the rates are effective immediately.

Using Skype you can now make up to 400 minutes of calls to landlines and mobiles in India for just $8.99/£5.79/€6,69* per month – an effective rate of only 2.2¢/1.4p/1,7c† ($US/£/€) per minute. This does not mean that you have to buy minimum 400 minute plan, if you check Skype website then the price for 60 minutes to India are mentioned as €1,39 with effective calling rate same as for other plans. You can choose the plan depending on your per month usage.

Skype mentions on its blog "You can chat away without the worry, and there are no long-term contracts either. You can make calls from your computer, mobile phone or even from your TV at our great low rates – a monthly subscription is the cheapest way to call phones with Skype.

Plus, if you sign up for 12 months, you’ll get an extra 120 minutes per month free, bringing the total monthly allowance to 520 minutes – an even better deal."

Again a nice voip deal by Skype !

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Skype launches Click and Call service

Voip leader, Skype has once again brought something new. A new service, Skype has launched its Click and Call services. Skype Click and Call service is specially targeted for its advertisers (pay per call).

Skype is enabling advertisers to generate inbound calls from Skype customers – at no cost to our customers and at affordable rates for participating advertisers. Skype can also call some phone numbers for free as the call is sponsored by advertisers. As written on Skype blog "Click & Call Advertising with Skype works simply by allowing participating advertisers to have their phone number highlighted with a blue Free Call button anywhere online that their numbers are displayed. When the button is clicked, the Skype software launches and the call is connected – at no cost to the caller."

I really like the idea of click to call, where the customer can directly get in contact with the advertiser/seller and the customer does not have to pay anything for the call. In return, advertisers have one more way of advertising and this was they also get direct contact without the need of any mail iterations and chat discussions. Lets see how big this Skype Click and Call service becomes with time.

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Skype offers Cheap Calls to India

Here is an update from Skype: Skype is now offering cheap calls to India so that you can throw away your international calling card. Hey but hold on, are these calls really cheap ?? or you can get cheaper calls to India.

Skype subscriptions start from $1.79/€1,39/£0.99 per month for 60 minutes of calls to landlines and mobiles in India. Which works out at just 3¢($)/2.3¢(€)/1.7p per minute.

$2.05/€1,59/£1.13 including VAT where applicable
3.45¢($)/2.65¢(€)/1.96p including VAT where applicable

So, basically you are paying 3 cents per minute to make calls to India. Well, when there are so many other voip provider offering much much cheap calls to India, don't know why is Skype calling the rate cheap. We have nymgo offering calls to India at 1.1 cents per minute, Rebtel at 1.8 cents, Indiald at 1-1.5 cents, LocalPhone, betamax, pingo and so many other voip services offering calls to India in range of 1 - 1.5 cents per minute.

I guess for those, who have been using Skype for all long and don't want to shift this is a great deal. There is No hidden fees, and no long term contract needed. Skype is surely a trusted voip provider. Many make their first voip call with Skype :)

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Skype iPhone App : Make and receive voip calls over 3G

Well, now it is possible that you can make voip calls over 3G connection from your iPhone. Make and receive calls with Skype for iPhone using your 3G connection.


Skype-to-Skype calls on 3G will be free until the end of 2010, so download and enjoy*. Skype-to-Skype calls over WiFi will remain free – and you can make calls to landlines and mobiles around the world at our incredibly low rates. The new version features an enhanced call quality indicator, which will help you choose the best moment to call. This feature though will only be free to use until August 2010, after which a small fee.

What’s New in Version 2.0.0

Upgrades / improvements include:
- Call using your 3G connection. Skype-to-Skype calls on 3G are free until at least end of August 2010, after which there will be a small monthly fee (operator charges for data will still apply).
- Near CD-quality sound for Skype-to-Skype calls using wideband audio (SILK codec) on iPhone 3GS and 2nd generation iPod touch.
- Enhanced call quality indicator.
- Improved start-up time.
- Fast access to the dial pad from iPhone home screen.

The updated app is available now in the App Store – download it now.

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