Skype to Giffgaff (UK mobile no.) = expensive

[CJB]

WOW!!!! I've just made a call on my Notebook at the South Bank (free
wifi) using Skype credit to a local Giffgaff no. Skype charged me
£1.50 for a mere 4 minutes!!!!

Since MS took over Skype the costs have rocketed - and the quality is
a dreadful as ever.

Are there cheaper ways of calling via VOIP from a Notebook on wifi to
a UK mobile no.?

CJB.

[David Hearn]

Skype say these are their current charges to call a UK mobile number:

United Kingdom - Mobile - Hutchison3G 14.9p
United Kingdom - Mobile - O2 14.9p
United Kingdom - Mobile - Orange 14.9p
United Kingdom - Mobile - Others 14.9p
United Kingdom - Mobile - T-Mobile 14.9p
United Kingdom - Mobile - Vodafone 14.9p

What number range were you calling?

D

[CJB]

Here's the actual transaction;

May 28 15:07 +44giffgaffno , United Kingdom - Mobile - O2 Call £0.149
(£0.17 with VAT) 06:06 min (rounded up to 7 mins) = £1.120

So the charge was 17p per minute. + 8p connection

On the Skype prices page it states:

United Kingdom - Mobile - O2 14.9p (no VAT) 17.1p (ncl. VAT) + 8p
connection fee

SO THAT'S EXPENSIVE AND NOT TO BE REPEATED.

CJB.

[Chris Davies]

In uk.telecom.mobile CJB <chris...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Are there cheaper ways of calling via VOIP from a Notebook on wifi to
> a UK mobile no.?

Yes!

Voipcheap.co.uk is quoting 2.3p/min inc. VAT; CallPirates.com is 1.8p/min
(inc.); and VoipJumper.com is 2.2p/min (inc.). Each suggests you download
and install their own application, but none of them really requires
this. However, it does make it nice and straightforward. If you have a
preferred SIP application you can use that for calling, as well.

The cheapest rate I've seen today is 1.6p/min (inc.) from VoipYo, but
that appears to require its own application installed on a smartphone.

(All rates taken from respective websites, and linked from the comparison
site at http://progx.ch/home-voip-prixbetamax-3-4-2.html)

Chris

[SB]

On May 28, 4:51 pm, Chris Davies <chris-use...@roaima.co.uk> wrote:

Thank you for those tips.

Skype seems to be charging as much as many mobile telcos. And the call
quality of Skype leaves much to be desired for the price. Also if a
call drops out and then has to be reconnected Skye charges another
connection fee. Not good. But then think who the current owner is!!.

CJB.

[David Woolley]

SB wrote:

>
> Skype seems to be charging as much as many mobile telcos. And the call

> quality of Skype leaves much to be desired for the price. Also if a#

A significant part of the cost of a call to a UK mobile will be the
interconnect charge from the destination network. That will apply to
everyone. Skype may not be big enough to negotiate a particularly good
deal, and the mobile networks may want to discourage Skype.

Note that in the US, this cost is born by the called party, so would be
independent of where the call originated.

[Roderick Stewart]

In article <be8fc4f5-6e8d-4e72-bc76-

eaeec2...@fr28g2000vbb.googlegroups.com>, Sb wrote:
> Skype seems to be charging as much as many mobile telcos. And the call
> quality of Skype leaves much to be desired for the price. Also if a
> call drops out and then has to be reconnected Skye charges another
> connection fee. Not good. But then think who the current owner is!!.

So far, the only thing anyone in my family has used Skype for is video
conversations with distant relatives. As this is absolutely free, it
seems very good value no matter who owns it.

Rod.
--
Virtual Access V6.3 free usenet/email software from
http://sourceforge.net/projects/virtual-access/

[Loony]

On 29/05/2012 09:31, Roderick Stewart wrote:
> In article<be8fc4f5-6e8d-4e72-bc76-
> eaeec2...@fr28g2000vbb.googlegroups.com>, Sb wrote:
>> Skype seems to be charging as much as many mobile telcos. And the call
>> quality of Skype leaves much to be desired for the price. Also if a
>> call drops out and then has to be reconnected Skye charges another
>> connection fee. Not good. But then think who the current owner is!!.
>
> So far, the only thing anyone in my family has used Skype for is video
> conversations with distant relatives. As this is absolutely free, it
> seems very good value no matter who owns it.
>
> Rod.

Wait until the new Skype managers have finished their big tasks. Then
they will very likely put the squeeze on the non-payers. I have had a
Skype on my computer for years but I never did buy the phone system. Now
I'm glad I didn't. I think there will be better values coming. I
have signed up with VoIP. Do you know anything about it?

[Brian Mc]

In uk.telecom.broadband Roderick Stewart <rj...@escapetime.removethisbit.myzen.co.uk> wrote:
: So far, the only thing anyone in my family has used Skype for is video

: conversations with distant relatives. As this is absolutely free, it
: seems very good value no matter who owns it.

When I was in Canada recently I found Skype-out to a UK landline (at ~4p/pm)
very useful - when compared to the 110p/pm that Orange would have charged
for the same calsl using my roaming mobile!

[Roland Perry]

In message <a2jrjj...@mid.individual.net>, at 12:57:10 on Tue, 29 May
2012, Loony <Lo...@nowhere.con> remarked:

>Wait until the new Skype managers have finished their big tasks. Then
>they will very likely put the squeeze on the non-payers.

That'll be the final nail in the coffin then. Most of my Skype activity
(IM) has moved from Skype to Twitter DM, anyway.
--
Roland Perry

[Graham.]

I'm not sure about Skype not being big enough, I mean most people I
know have at least heard of Skype, even if they don't know you can use
it to make calls to the PSTN.

Few if any people I know will have heard of Betamax other than in the
context of video recording, and as for Dellmont Sarl, they probably
think it sounds like an investment bank.
So how come this company can undercut Skype?

--
Graham.
%Profound_observation%

[Theo Markettos]

In uk.telecom.voip Brian Mc <b...@somewhere.ac.uk> wrote:
> When I was in Canada recently I found Skype-out to a UK landline (at ~4p/pm)
> very useful - when compared to the 110p/pm that Orange would have charged
> for the same calsl using my roaming mobile!

When /I/ was in Canada recently I found Voipgain to a UK landline (at 0p/pm)
very useful. And it worked from my phone too.

Theo

[Steve Terry]

I use Skype for Skype to Skype calls, including to and from my
Skype S2 phone.
I wouldn't dream of using Skype to call a mobile phone.

check out:
http://backsla.sh/betamax

one of the cheapest
http://www.voipgain.com/en/index.html

Steve Terry
--
Get a free GiffGaff PAYG Sim and £5 bonus after activation at:
http://giffgaff.com/orders/affiliate/gfourwwk

[Brian Mc]

In uk.telecom.broadband Theo Markettos <theom...@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
: > When I was in Canada recently I found Skype-out to a UK landline (at ~4p/pm)
: > very useful - when compared to the 110p/pm that Orange would have charged
: > for the same calsl using my roaming mobile!

: When /I/ was in Canada recently I found Voipgain to a UK landline (at 0p/pm)
: very useful. And it worked from my phone too.

First time I have heard of this lot!!! I will certainly investigate further!

[Theo Markettos]

In uk.telecom.voip Brian Mc <b...@somewhere.ac.uk> wrote:

I was being slightly facetious by not mentioning the qualifiers, but it did
work for me. The qualifiers are that the Betamax/Dellmont/Finarea offerings
have 'freedays': you topup £10 and you get some number of 'freedays' (exact
number various by brand, but something like 120). Some subset of cheap
destinations (eg landlines in developed countries) are then free for the
appointed period. After that period they're not free, but still cheap (eg
1p/min).

And the bit about working on my phone is also not quite the whole story...
it's a phone running Android 2.3 which supports SIP natively - you can
choose whether an outgoing call is a mobile call or an internet call. Put
in the Voipgain/etc details for internet calling, and it just works.
Assuming you have decent wifi, which I did. If you don't have a smartphone,
a laptop/tablet/etc would do just as well with the appropriate voip app.

Theo

[The Natural Philosopher]

Probably a bit late but SIPGATE offers a PAYG SIP gateway to other services.

Not sure how the charges compare.


--
To people who know nothing, anything is possible.
To people who know too much, it is a sad fact
that they know how little is really possible -
and how hard it is to achieve it.

[Graham.]

On Wed, 30 May 2012 12:55:22 +0100, "Steve Terry" <gfou...@tesco.net>
wrote:

>CJB wrote:
>> WOW!!!! I've just made a call on my Notebook at the South Bank (free
>> wifi) using Skype credit to a local Giffgaff no. Skype charged me
>> £1.50 for a mere 4 minutes!!!!
>>
>> Since MS took over Skype the costs have rocketed - and the quality is
>> a dreadful as ever.
>> Are there cheaper ways of calling via VOIP from a Notebook on wifi to
>> a UK mobile no.?
>> CJB.
>>
>I use Skype for Skype to Skype calls, including to and from my
>Skype S2 phone.
>I wouldn't dream of using Skype to call a mobile phone.
>
>check out:
>http://backsla.sh/betamax
>
>one of the cheapest
>http://www.voipgain.com/en/index.html
>
>Steve Terry

I call mobiles with an S2 using a Skype to SIP gateway that currently
runs in an XP Pro virtual machine on this Win 7 computer.
Calls are routed via voipcheap.co.uk

--
Graham.
%Profound_observation%