Larry wrote:
I finally took the plunge for the full Skype internet phone package
tonight. I have the Linksys CIT200 wireless Skype phone whos base
station is plugged into my laptop. Any wifi hotspot provides me Skype
phone service to the planet, a real boon to cruisers I'd think.
http://tinyurl.com/rj6cw
Circuit City wants $99 for the phone but you can get it for $80 on the
net from several stores.

Skype Out....dialing landlines and mobiles.

If anyone buys the Linksys CIT200 Skype wireless phone, the secret to
dialing landline and cellphone numbers from the handset is to always dial
US landline and cellular numbers with 0111-area code-number which works
like a champ, or if 0111 bothers you hold down the 0 button for 1 second
and it will put a + on screen which does the same thing as 0111. Put all
your favorite landline/cellular numbers on the contact list on the laptop
to eliminate all dialing completely.
US/Canada phone numbers are free until 2007. UK is free this weekend, to
landline phones in UK only...not mobiles. All this is SkypeOut.

Skype In.....your own STABLE phone number where YOU want it, no matter
where you are, without the cellular roaming and other funny business....

I bought Skype In for the princely sum of $US38/YEAR, too. I chose a
local Charleston, SC, phone number because that's where most of my phone
calls come from. A thought came to me as SkypeIn asked me where I wanted
my phone in number to be located. It doesn't care. If you have lots of
calls coming from Chicago, even though you live in Florida, you can have
a Chicago (or wherever) phone number so family/friends would be making a
local free call to call you in Florida or anyplace else....not some long
distance scam from Ma Bell. Skype doesn't care where YOU are just where
it makes the landline-to-Skype connection....CRUISERS CAN HAVE A STABLE
PHONE NUMBER WITH FREE VOICEMAIL FOR $38/YEAR....not per minute! If your
computer is offline, no Skype, the calls go to Skype voicemail. You can
also tell Skype to forward calls to a telephone number, like your
cellphone. Unlike that cryptic crap on your cellphone voicemail
memorizing and pressing number buttons, Skype has a whole computer
interface with a PLAY button right out there in plain sight! Whereever
you have internet service, even dialup, you have Skype service and can
get the voicemails, automatically returning calls very inexpensively (2.1
cents US to most civilized landlines, but free to US/Canadian phones FROM
INSIDE THE USA/CANADA until Jan 1, 2007)

Works great...especially for $38/year for a phone number that works!

I especially like the part about NO FEES, NO FUNNY BUSINESS, NO TAXES!

Ever hear the saying "there's no free lunch"? What worries me about
Skype is that I get everything setup to make calls, which are FREE until
2007, and then in 2007 suddenly there is a big fee to use it. Sounds
like a big come-on to suck you in then sock it to you. What is their
business model to make money. I'm sure they are not an altruistic
organization.
krj