When a person moves home, today, he thinks twice before installing a fixed network and, more likely, he looks for a way to connect only an internet line, thus avoiding paying a fixed line user. With a router at home it is possible to connect to the internet from a PC, tablet and smartphone and use, on each of these devices, the Skype program that is used to chat and, above all, to make calls to landlines and mobile phones without having to have a normal telephone . You can pay for a subscription or buy credit as you would with a rechargeable card to call at normal rates both in Italy and, above all, abroad. Most people know that you can use Skype to make free calls to other Skype users, even in video chat using the webcam. What many forget is that you can also use Skype to call normal phones, even of people who have no idea what Skype is.
There are two ways to use Skype as a home phone: by purchasing Skype Credit, ideal if you think that Skype will be used rarely and only in certain circumstances (for travel only, for example) or with a subscription to make unlimited calls to anyone, in a country, with a monthly payment. The only requirement is to have a computer with microphone or a tablet, iPad or smartphone of any type, Android, iPhone or others.
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To use Skype you need to register an account on the Skype.com website.
Since Skype is from Microsoft today, if you have a Windows 10 or Outlook.com account, then you can log in to Skype using your Microsoft account login and password.
To use Skype you can use the app or the program for Windows or even the app for Android or iPhone, free.
After logging into the Skype site, you can pay for a subscription so that you can make calls to all phones, including cell phones. The only calls that cannot be made with Skype are toll-free numbers and emergency numbers. For example, therefore, if you are in Italy, you can go to the rates page and look for those to call from Italy.
The unlimited monthly subscription plan for calls to Italian landlines costs, for example, 5 Euros per month . If instead you need to call throughout Europe, the cost is 6 Euros while the whole world costs 12 Euros. If, on the other hand, you want a subscription plan to call landline and mobile numbers, you can go from 10 Euros for 60 minutes a month to 36 Euros for calling cell phones, without time limits, in Spain, Germany, Great Britain and France.
People who travel frequently for business or pleasure can safely sign up for multiple subscriptions simultaneously .
It must be considered that the Skype rates are not linked to the "from where" it is called, but only to who is called, therefore the country where you are located does not count for tariff purposes . If you have an Italy subscription, you can also call an Italian telephone from the USA or Japan at the same rate, but if you want to call a USA telephone, you should pay for a United States subscription and so on. So Europe and World subscriptions are only needed if you need to call multiple people around the world. North American tariff plans include both landlines and cell phones and are much cheaper than Italian ones. Calling a person with a US number on your cell phone is cheaper than calling Grandma, who lives in the same city, on your cell phone.
Alternatively, you can also pay for a Skype subscription for 4 Euros or more per month, to make unlimited calls to landlines or landlines and mobile phones in a single country of your choice. Group video calls can also be made with this type of account. The premium account can also be tried for one day with the Day Pass.
Pay-as-you-go is like paying for a mobile phone's rechargeable credit.
The tariffs scale money depending on the country you call and, even in this case, it does not matter where you call from: for Italian numbers you pay 2 Cent for landlines and 28 for cell phones.
To use Skype and turn your computer or tablet or VOIP device into a real phone it would also be good to receive calls and, therefore, get a phone number from Skype to receive calls. You can receive free Skype calls from other Skype users who can initiate calls or video calls by adding our identification name to the contact list. If you want to be called from normal telephones, unfortunately, from Italy, it is not possible to obtain a number due to strange laws that prevent it. However, nothing prevents an Italian from registering a phone number if he travels and goes to another country on vacation or for work.
On the SkypeIn page to see the conditions for registering a local and landline phone number from another country . For some it is necessary to provide a residential address, for others instead it is enough just to choose and pay. If you already have a Skype subscription you can get a discount on the number.
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NOTE : Given this Skype limit, there is a similar service called Messagenet, with identical rates and functional in the same way, which also allows you to register a free Italian landline number to be called at home or on your cell phone .
In any case, if you plan to make calls with Skype and receive calls (those from Skype users are always free and possible from all over the world) and you don't want to keep your computer or tablet on all day, you can buy a phone Skype that works via internet connection (as long as you have a router at home).
On Amazon you can buy online the cordless for internet telephony VOIP. Of course, if you prefer not to buy a dedicated device, you can simply install Skype on an inexpensive Android tablet such as the Nexus 7 which connects to any Wifi network and can also be carried around. Obviously, nothing prevents you from keeping Skype active even on your smartphone.
Skype can also be used using an Amazon Echo and Alexa . In the Settings of the Alexa app on Android or iPhone, open the Communication section to add the Skype account. This allows you to receive 200 minutes of free calls via Skype to landlines and mobile phones. You can make calls with Skype and Alexa by saying phrases like Alexa, Call Mom with Skype, for free if dad has Skype or according to Skype call rates if you make a VOIP call using.
With Skype it is also possible to send traditional SMS to mobile phones at the normal cost of 10 cents, to all over the world.
Skype is not the only alternative for telephoning from the computer but it is perhaps the most convenient.
In another article: Calling from computer to mobile or landline: lower prices and rates
