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We began this adventure to find a way to cut down our cell phone bill. We looked into TimeWarner phone (part of roadrunner), Vonage, and that was about all the viable options we could find. I found a link that said Skype could do the same thing as the other services. I figured for a small investment it was worth checking it out – see if it can do what it says it can.

Yes, it’s possible… You can actually replace your home phone with Skype. We have 6 pc’s in the house anyways – so we installed the software on one of the pc’s to manage the phone software. Ironically, it was not as hard as I thought it would be. Getting straight answers out of the customer support people is quite another story. So maybe this post will fill in any of the missing pieces.

To begin your adventure of unlimited home phone service for $6.95 a month, you will need:

1. A phone – I bought one off Ebay that was actually 2 phones in the package with the software & encrypted instruction booklet.

2. A Skype Account.

3. A personal computer that you do not mind leaving on 24/7 (if you have strong reservations about this , then you can purchase a phone that can work directly from your cable modem/fast DSL line… ).

4. Lastly fast internet (cable modem, fast DSL)

Skype software is available on their website. The software to connect the phone to the Skype software is included with the phone. Mine is a GE phone, and the disk was included in the package. It was all wizard driven – no goof-ups… not sure if that means it’s goof-up-proof, but it worked as it was intended to I believe.

The phone i purchased ‘can’ manage a regular phone line & the Skype internet phone line. I do not have a land line any longer, so it works out well to answer/place calls with the Skype button on the phone.

The Skype account is free to sign up, but to use the extended features cost a little more. Before you get flustered, remember that Skype works in three parts. The first part is the computer software – which anyone can use for free to place a ‘computer call [with mic and speakers or headphones]‘ to another pc only, the second being unlimited outgoing to land-line numbers, and third is an online number where you can receive unlimited calls from anyone in your country (in my case USA). The pricing is not broken down conveniently, but knowing how the service works will help. To use my Skype handsets, I needed the software installed, unlimited outgoing calls, and an online number so people can call me.

The pricing is ‘odd’ in my opinion, the outgoing unlimited calls to handsets is $2.95 a month (all prices are at the first quarter of 2009), the online phone number/unlimited incoming calls is sold quarterly for $12. the subscription period is monthly, quarterly or yearly on outgoing, but only quarterly or yearly on the incoming/online number. (so $4 per month for incoming calls & online number and $2.95 per month for the unlimited outgoing calls to landlines.

So, with my Skype account setup, my software installed on my pc, my outgoing call account purchased, and my incoming/online number subscription, I plugged in the phone base to the cordless phones. It automatically found my buddy list in the pc software (on both phones), I picked up the base unit and called my cell phone (it worked) and vice versa – it worked both ways.

The call quality is better than my Verizon cell phone. Is as good as my brother-in-laws Timewarner broadband phone, and for $6.95 a month I can be a little forgiving if anything ever does happen. We can now cut down our cell phone usage from 1400 minutes to 700 minutes per month (saving us roughly $60 [almost a full year of our new Skype phone service]).

This was a good endeavor- bridging the technology gap from pc/broadband to land line phones. Especially saving me $720 a year.

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