When I just updated my Skype now, the first line came out in their new features page is “Free calls within the US and Canada to all phones until the end of the year.”
This is pretty revolutionary! Imaging all the American and Canadian business men can call their headquarters for free, or hold an online meeting with other colleagues and clients. Also think of people within the State and Canada. I guess this would save a lot of bills when you call some customer services and be put in a queue for hours.
Skype’s move is ambitious, basically I think what they are trying to do is trying to take over most Net-to-Phone market share before any stronger rivals appears. But I am more willing to see whether the call quality can be as good as they promise when people trying free calls. If it’s positive, then Skype will be the next generation, otherwise it would be a very bad lose, because people are unlikely to try something again if they experiences the first failures, even though it’s free.
Since my last updated, it works ok so far. Occasionally the voice quality went a bit weird and a feedback page will pop up after the calls. But the video quality are very good, the best I have seen so far.
I would like to see the data after this free calls promotion. Also I might try to call some friends in US to see how the quality is really like.