Skype celebrates seven years – gives away 400 free landline minutes!

Hard to believe that Skype has already been around for seven years, and as part of their birthday celebration, they are giving away 400 free landline minutes to a variety of countries.

There is some fine print worth paying attention to, because after that first free month, they’ll start billing you monthly. Still, even once they start charging your card, you’ll be paying around $4/month for those minutes which is not a bad deal at all.

Now Skype is available on Android, this could be a great way to make perfectly cheap calls abroad when you are traveling (hint: Skype has been hacked to work over 3G when in the US). Head on over to their birthday site, pick a country, and enjoy your free talktime.

Skype for Android arrives in the marketplace – WiFi calling only when in the U.S.

Unless you were using a Verizon Wireless device, you’ve not had the chance to use Skype on your Android phone. Thankfully, that changed this morning when Skype released their app to the world, including those of us not on Verizon.

The Skype app allows for free Skype to Skype calls, as well as paid calls to mobile and landline phones. The new Skype client for Android works on 3G and WiFi outside the U.S. and WiFi only within the U.S.

The application itself is free, and you get a free EUR0.09 credit, worth one call to a phone anywhere in the world.

The application itself is well made – it can sync with your existing contacts and stays active in your notification drop-down, ready to alert you to incoming calls or messages.

Inside the app, you can change your profile, set your status and purchase Skype add-ons. Search for “Skype” in the Android marketplace to find the app.

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Skype celebrates the World Cup with a month of free phone calls to one country

Are you a Skype user? If not, you may want to sign up today, because a new promotion from this Internet phone service is giving away a free month of phone calls to one of 32 different countries. In the fine print, you’ll see that “a month” actually equals 120 minutes, but if you have someone heading abroad this summer, 120 minutes could be the difference between free or a a $100 phone bill.

The free calls can be made to landlines only, and the deal is only available to the first 100,000 people that sign up, so don’t delay! You’ll find the Skype free calls football promo here.

Skype introduces new monthly calling subscriptions to 170 countries

As summer approaches, being able to make affordable phone calls becomes more important than ever. Even though many of us rely on Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare to stay in touch, there are still plenty of situations where you need to pick up the phone.

Skype has always been a great solution for this – but their service just got even better thanks to a lineup of new subscription based calling plans. Starting tomorrow, Skype is rolling out calling plans to more than 170 countries that provide callers with a savings of up to 60 percent compared to their standard Pay As You Go rates.

With the new subscriptions, Skype offers users the flexibility to customize their calling plans in just three easy steps:

1. Select the countries you want to call
2. Decide whether you want to call mobile phones, landlines or both
3. Choose the plan that best suits your needs from 1-month to 12-months or 60 minutes to unlimited

These new subscriptions start as low as $1.09 per month and offer effective rates as low as $.01 per minute to almost any destination around the globe.

With these new plans, you’ll be able to make unlimited calls, often for less than the cost of a single minute of international mobile roaming. To make Skype even better, Verizon Wireless customers can install Skype Mobile on a variety of 3G smartphones.

Skype video call saves wedding messed up by volcanic ash

A couple stranded in Dubai by the Eyjafjallajokull volcanic ash managed to save their wedding day and share it with family and friends – all thanks to the generosity of their hotel, and Skype.

The took their vows in front of hotel guests and a webcam equipped laptop broadcast the event to friends and family back in the United Kingdom.

Best of all, the celebration was shared with other hotel guests who had been stranded for days – and since everyone loves a wedding, some guests even helped out with hair and make-up for the Bride.

I’ve been a long time fan of Skype, and always use it when I’m on the road – the video communication part of Skype is a fantastic way of staying in touch with my family and free Skype to Skype calling has saved me thousands in international calling charges.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the hotel even decorated the lobby and made a three tier wedding cake.

For those that have never used Skype – I highly recommend taking it for a spin. With Skype on your laptop, desktop or even on your mobile device, you can make free calls to other Skype users, or very cheap calls to landline and mobile numbers. In addition to voice calls, Skype also does hassle-free video calls in very high quality, without having to deal with networking issues.

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