Skype is a free telephony Voice Over IP (VOIP) system that allows users to make free calls over the internet to other Skype users. The software is free to download, and once installed, offers true free international calls, but only to other Skype users that are online.

The system has recently made advances that make it ideal as a business application too. If you have multiple offices, and each office downloads Skype, you will never have to pay for an inter-office phone call ever again. This translates into massive savings. Regular or corporate clients and suppliers can also be advised of Skype, and your monthly phone costs will be drastically reduced. But the benefits do not end there. There are now other advantages too.

Skype has released a SkypeIN facility. This allows a Skype user to purchase three individual, foreign phone numbers. If you have contacts, for example, in France, you can purchase a French local number for them to call. The line diverts through to your Skype, and rings wherever you are in the world. At a subscription rate of only €30 per annum, it makes sense for a number of business types. You can also purchase numbers from Hong Kong, Germany, UK, Sweden, Denmark etc. The caller pays only for the local call at standard rates. There is no cost attached to receiving the call. Once you have paid your annual subscription of €30, you do not incur any other charges.

Also available is SkypeOUT credit. Once credit is purchased, the Skype user can use their PC to call international landline and mobile phones for vastly reduced rates.

Up until now, there has been only one downside to this telecom phenomenon. Users were bound to their PC's in order to make the free VOIP calls. Also, the PC needed to have a sound card and a microphone fitted. This has all changed with the release of the Skype enabled Dual Phone.

The Dual Phone is a portable handheld unit that connect to the standard landline, and to the PC via a USB port. Once installed, the user can scroll through their online Skype contacts on the handset and make free calls from anywhere in the home or office. The phone has a range of 50m indoors, and up to 300m outside. Callers calling in on the landline or the Skype free telephony system, come through on the phone too, hence the Dual phone title. The phone operates as a standard PSTN unit, as well as having the Skype capability. As the Skype phone acts as the PC sound card and microphone, these are no longer required.

There are other PC phones on the market, but they have various restrictions. Few, if any, are portable, offering no advantage over using a PC sound card and microphone. Neither do other phones on the market have the dual capability, forcing you to have two handsets for the different functions.

The Dual Phone performs both functions, landline and VOIP, in one, portable handset.

The Dual Phone is considered Future Proof. This is achieved through a Flash software memory in the phone, that automatically recognises and upgrades to newer versions of Skype. No other PC phone can offer this facility.

The Skype phones cost €135 each. As a once off cost to reduce the cost of calls over a lifetime, it is incredibly cost efficient.

Please feel free to contact me so that I can demonstrate the benefits of Skype and the Skype phones to you at your earliest convenience.

Alternatively, download Skype and contact me online. We are able to deliver phones throughout Europe.

Best regards

Fraser Dodge

Skype ID: fdodge