Canadian telecom regulators should hurry up and allow the allocation of SkypeIn numbers. The deal is that you pay about $50 a year to Skype for a phone number in an area code of your choice. People can then call it from within that area, as though it were a free local call. They would actually be calling a computer that forwards the call to your Skype account, on whatever computer or Skype-enabled phone you are using, anywhere in the world. You can also have it automatically redirect calls to another normal phone, though there is a per-minute charge for that.
The system seems really good because people in your designated area can call you without worrying about long distance charges. Also, people who don’t find the whole Skype system comprehensible can call you without any knowledge of how it all works. Supposedly, it is unavailable in Canada because it is incompatible with 911, but this doesn’t make a great deal of sense, since SkypeIn numbers receive calls, rather than initiate them.
With a combination of SkypeIn and Skype Unlimited (which costs $30 a year and includes unlimited calling to landlines), I could speak an unlimited amount to friends in North America for less than $75 a year, with benefits such as being able to use any internet cafe that has Skype installed as though it were my home phone. I just need to wait for Canadian regulators to permit the final link in the chain.
PS. I realize that I could buy a SkypeIn number for New York or Seattle, which would be very cheap for friends in Canada to call. Losing the convenience of it being a local call, for them, is the reason I have not done so thus far, though you can attach SkypeIn numbers in up to ten area codes to a single Skype account.
A few previous Skype-related posts:
WiFi Skype phones, a very good idea
More of you should get Skype
I know, but it’s more expensive and requires special equipment.
Vonage is an option already available in Canada.
You can’t get Skype Unlimited in England, can you?
i’m confused about the regulators’ requirements that i keep reading about… the gizmo project (a skype competitor) manages to offer call-in numbers in canada. why can’t skype?
I have had the opportunity to contact the CRTC, Canada’s regulator for all things related to telecommunication, and they have expressed their willingness to accept and review an application by Skype for access to providing IP-based phone numbers. They have never received anything from them.
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