Skype announces all VOIP calls to US & Canada are free
In web2.0-ish style, VOIP provider Skype has announced that all calls to US and Canada are free until 2007, even calls made from a computer to a cell phone or land line.
From the site:
> Yes. It is really very, very free. There’s no prepayment, no minimum use, no subscription, no monthly fee, no nothing. You just download and install Skype and then you start calling. Both the caller and the number called must be in either the US or Canada. There are no strings attached.
> The only condition is that we have said free SkypeOut within the US and Canada is guaranteed to last until the end of this year — that is, until December 31, 2006. We’re not quite sure yet what we will do after that. Maybe we extend the free period, maybe not. You’ll hear more about this towards the end of the year.
This is great news, except for the obvious question: **How can Skype afford to offer free VOIP?**
I’ve also heard that the big ISPs (Comcast, Verizon, RCN) are intentionally providing low bandwidth to VOIP users such as Vonage customers, as it directly competes with the phone services these ISPs are selling.
I supect that if everyone starts using their Verizon-provided bandwidth to make free Skype calls, Verizon will try to put a stop to this. So you might not want to cancel your phone service quite yet until we see how this plays out.
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