Skypesperiment
So, eternally frustrated by mediocre to terrible phone service, I’ve long been looking for a way to use Skype for my home phone service. Unfortunately up until recently, all Skype phones required the use of an attached computer, making the whole concept way to geeky to be feasible.
However, at some recent point, Philips came out with a snazzy phone that acts as a Skype client with no computer necessary. You get this little black box that you plug into your router, and the associated handsets register with the box. The whole thing signs up with your Skype account, and bam: you have a working Skype phone.
I’ve signed up with two Skype services to complete the picture – SkypeIn, which gets me a telephone number that people can call from their last-century phone system, and Skype Unlimited, which gets me the ability to place unlimited local or long distance calls to anywhere in North America.
My phone bill for the next year will total about $90. I am stoked. Every time I make a call I feel like I’m getting to stick it to the man.
I’ll continue to report here as I settle into the service, warts and all.
How much was the phone?