facebook rss twitter

Skype Pro promises 'disruptive pricing' but how disruptive is it?

by Bob Crabtree on 18 January 2007, 15:31

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qahqr

Add to My Vault: x

The news


Skype logo

Internet phone company Skype is readying a new pricing plan for chargeable calls to landlines and mobiles that may or may not be quite as "disruptive" as it infers.

We're struggling to figure out how much cheaper (or indeed, more expensive) the new Skype Pro "premium subscription package" - with its €2 (ex VAT) per month fee - will be compared to current SkypeOut prices and will report back as soon as we manage to separate the hype from reality.

In the interim, we include on page two the press release issued this afternoon about Skype Pro and have created a thread in the HEXUS.lifestyle.news forum where your calculations and comments would, of course, be welcome.

If you fancy getting to work on the figures yourself, a good starting point might be this page in our review of the D-Link Skype USB Phone Adapter DPH-50U, which explains most of the ins and outs of Skype's current prices.

We'll update this article as soon as possible and alert you with a front-pager on HEXUS.lifestyle.

So, check out the release and help us solve the Great Skype Pro Mystery, remembering along the way that all prices quoted are ex-VAT - and that VAT is charged at the Luxembourg rate of 15 per cent...

Update - Jan 18, 07, 19:10

We've now got our heads around what Skype Pro is all about but can't say with any certainty who will or won't be better off adopting this pricing plan, rather than sticking with separate payments for SkypeOut and SkypeIn or, indeed, opting for something quite different from a phone or internet service provider.

The first thing that needs to be realised is that - Skype Pro or no – outside of the USA and Canada, the company has from today introduced a new connection fee for all chargeable calls made to landlines and mobiles.

This will add 3.3p (4.5 Euro cents) to the cost of every chargeable call made. The fee for the USA and Canada is 4.5 US cents but applicable only in certain circumstances (hopefully, explained below).

Those prices include VAT at 15 per cent where applicable and all prices we give below are also VAT inclusive unless otherwise stated.

Ignoring the USA and Canada, with Skype Pro all calls made to landlines within a country will be free apart from the connection charge, whereas with SkypeOut, there remains a per-minute cost to be added to the new connection charge. For calls within the UK, that per-minute charge is 1.4p. [Please note - we'd previously wrongly said the per-minute charge was 3p. Apologies. Bob C - Feb 21, 2007]

On top of that, Skype Pro also has a monthly subscription fee. This is  €2.30 but we don't yet know what the charge will be in UK pounds.

We also don't know the dollar price but things are a bit more complicated in the USA and Canada because of the Unlimited Calling plan for those two countries unveiled by Skype in mid December.

Unlimited Calling is a subscription service costing $29.95 per year – or $14.95 for sign-ups before the end of January – and lets US and Canadian residents continue making calls completely free to landlines and mobiles in those countries via Skype. Calls abroad, though, will incur a connection fee and be charged for on a per-minute basis, too.

In the UK, if we discount for the moment Skype Pro's monthly subscription - but do take account of the connection charge - every chargeable call within the UK lasting two minutes or longer will be cheaper via Skype Pro than Skype Out.

Skype Pro also offers other savings, notably on voicemail and renting SkypeIn numbers.


Skype Pro page

Each Skype Pro accounts comes with free voicemail that would otherwise costs £3.45 for three months or £11.50 for a year – unless, that is, you buy a SkypeIn number, in which case, as before, voicemail is free.

SkypeIn numbers are landline numbers that are assigned to your Skype account and which anyone can ring from a landline or mobile or through chargeable Skype services.

When you choose a SkypeIn number, you can have one from any of a number of different countries, not just your own.

One of our SkypeIn numbers is for the outer London (020 8) area in which some of us happen to be based. However, for another of our accounts it is a New York number that lets anyone in the USA and Canada call us free on an ordinary phone.

Skype account holders in other countries can make similar arrangements with their SkypeIn numbers to let folk from abroad call them for less than the usual international rate.

Renting a SkypeIn number costs £8.05 for three months and £23 for a year but the company is offering Skype Pro subscribers €30 off a SkypeIn number - though giving free voicemail whether or not you opt to get a SkypeIn number.

We presume - but don't know - that €30 figure's ex-VAT and also don't know what it equates to in pounds or dollars, though we're trying to check and will do a further update if we get any answers.

We'd originally thought that Skype Pro subscribers also got reduced rates for calling certain countries but now believe that's not the case. Skype did introduce lower rates today for seven countries and the two outlying US states of Alaska and Hawaii but those apply equally to SkypeOut callers.

The seven countries are the Czech Republic (including Prague), Guam, Hungary (including Budapest), Israel (including Jerusalem), Luxembourg, Malaysia (including Kuala Lumpur) and Puerto Rico. We probably should instantly realise why Skype has included the names of those various places in brackets after the countries but don't have a clue.

Charges to these countries and to Alaska and Hawaii will now be 14p (€0.020) per minute – a saving, Skype reckons, of up to 65 per cent. 

As you'll now understand, it's not easy for us to say who should and shouldn't go the Skype Pro route - though, clearly, the more calls you make to landlines and mobiles, the cheaper Skype Pro will be relative to using SkypeOut.

But Skype Pro may not be better value than some of those eye-catching deals offered by the keenest of telecoms, TV and ISP companies whose phone services come as part of packages and, despite that, do not require the use of a computer to make or take calls and can provide completely free calls to the UK and, in some cases, a bunch of other countries.

Currently TalkTalk appears to offer the most compelling package but we're hearing a lot of bad things about the company's support and have suffered some of it first-hand recently, too.

So, does Skype Plus strike you as a particular tempting offer? Check out Skype's press release on the next page, then let us know in this thread in the HEXUS.lifestyle.news forum.
 

HEXUS.links

HEXUS.community :: discussion thread about this article

HEXUS.lifestyle.headline :: Carphone Warehouse reveals details of 'free' broadband - it's war!
HEXUS.lifestyle.headline :: Free broadband from The Carphone Warehouse?
HEXUS.lifestyle.headline :: Sky offers 'free' broadband to 'all' its TV subscribers

HEXUS.lifestyle.reviews :: USRobotics Skype USB Telephone Adapter 9620
HEXUS.lifestyle.reviews :: D-Link Skype USB Phone Adapter DPH-50U
HEXUS.lifestyle.reviews :: Low-cost webcam - MSI StarCam 370i

HEXUS.lifestyle headline :: RTX first to ship PC-free Skype/DECT wireless phone in Europe
HEXUS.lifestyle headline :: Skype enhances Mac free VoiP software
HEXUS.lifestyle headline :: Send yourself TV via Skype for under £50

IFA 2006 :: Philips VOIP841 - PC-free DECT/Skype WiFi phone

External.links

Skype - home page
Skype - Unlimited Calling plan
Talk Talk - Talk 3 International home
Talk Talk - Package-deal price-comparison page
Talk Talk - International phone-call prices