Skype Hacks | O'Reilly Media

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This chapter is targeted at readers who are new to Skype, or who have only heard about Skype and would like to try it. Experienced Skype users might want to skip this chapter and move on to more advanced stuff in Chapter 2 and beyond.

By reading this chapter, you will achieve three important goals: you will know what Skype is and what it can do; you will acquire a "Skype vocabulary" that will help you make better use of the hacks that follow in subsequent chapters; and you will be able to make a smooth transition to becoming a dyed-in-the-wool "Skyper." Moreover, you will achieve these goals in an action-oriented way—by doing hacks!

Additionally, by reading this chapter—an alternative title for which could be "A Whirlwind Tour of Skype's Features"—you will also see links among later hacks that would otherwise remain hidden. In short, if you are new to Skype, this chapter is for you.

Skype is both software and a bundle of services. It is an implementation of Voice over IP (VoIP) that enables people to have two-way telephone conversations over the Internet using a softphone (a piece of software that emulates the functions of regular phone hardware to make and receive calls). Many VoIP offerings are available. What makes Skype so different, and revolutionary, is that it is based on Peer-to-Peer (P2P) technology similar to Kazaa (this is not surprising, really, given that Skype was developed by the same people who brought us Kazaa). Using P2P technology means that Skype runs on a mesh of interconnected PCs spread across the global Internet (see Figure 1-1). This provides two important benefits to Skype users. First, Skype scales very well and there is little risk that it will run out of resources.

Second, because the Skype user community provides the resources to run Skype, it requires very little of its own infrastructure, so its services can be offered at little or no cost.

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This chapter is targeted at readers who are new to Skype, or who have only heard about Skype and would like to try it. Experienced Skype users might want to skip this chapter and move on to more advanced stuff in Chapter 2 and beyond.

By reading this chapter, you will achieve three important goals: you will know what Skype is and what it can do; you will acquire a "Skype vocabulary" that will help you make better use of the hacks that follow in subsequent chapters; and you will be able to make a smooth transition to becoming a dyed-in-the-wool "Skyper." Moreover, you will achieve these goals in an action-oriented way—by doing hacks!

Additionally, by reading this chapter—an alternative title for which could be "A Whirlwind Tour of Skype's Features"—you will also see links among later hacks that would otherwise remain hidden. In short, if you are new to Skype, this chapter is for you.

Skype is both software and a bundle of services. It is an implementation of Voice over IP (VoIP) that enables people to have two-way telephone conversations over the Internet using a softphone (a piece of software that emulates the functions of regular phone hardware to make and receive calls). Many VoIP offerings are available. What makes Skype so different, and revolutionary, is that it is based on Peer-to-Peer (P2P) technology similar to Kazaa (this is not surprising, really, given that Skype was developed by the same people who brought us Kazaa). Using P2P technology means that Skype runs on a mesh of interconnected PCs spread across the global Internet (see Figure 1-1). This provides two important benefits to Skype users. First, Skype scales very well and there is little risk that it will run out of resources.

Second, because the Skype user community provides the resources to run Skype, it requires very little of its own infrastructure, so its services can be offered at little or no cost.

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If you're new to Skype, this hack will have you talking online quickly and with a minimum of fuss.

Works with: all versions of Skype.

Not surprisingly, Skype has gone to great lengths to make it easy to install and use Skype. Instead of duplicating what Skype has put in place for new Skype users, here I simply intend to act as your friendly guide.

Just like when you test-drive a car, the goal is to get you on the road as quickly as possible and put Skype through its paces, all the while avoiding the potholes and other obstacles that might get in the way.

Follow these steps and make your first Skype call with a minimum of aggravation and fuss:

Check minimum system requirements: Table P-1 in the Preface gives a quick overview of system requirements for each platform Skype supports. At the time of this writing, Skype supported Windows (2000 and XP), Linux (SuSE, Fedora Core, Debian, and Madriva, formerly Mandrake), Mac OS X (10.3 Panther or later), and Pocket PC (Mobile 2003). For the latest requirements for each Skype platform, check the download page for the version you are interested in, at http://www.skype.com/download/. Remember, these are minimum system requirements, so you may want to build in a little margin of error when deciding whether your machine is up to the job. This is especially true if you intend to use your machine for other tasks while you talk.
Check out Skype's look-and-feel online: Before installing Skype, it's well worth it to first familiarize yourself with the look-and-feel of Skype on your preferred platform (see Figure 1-2). That way, when you first run Skype, you'll be looking at something familiar. You can familiarize yourself with Skype by visiting Skype's web site, at http://www.skype.com/products/screenshots.html.

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If you're new to Skype, this hack will have you chatting online quickly and with a minimum of fuss.

Works with: all versions of Skype.

Skype chat is an implementation of instant messaging, which is an online, real-time interactive communication method that uses simple text to send and receive messages. You and up to 50 (at the time of this writing) other Skype users can simultaneously "chat," sending messages back and forth to each other so that all chat participants can see and participate in the exchange.

Unfortunately, Skype chat does not interoperate with other popular instant messaging systems, such as MSN Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, and Yahoo!. However, some third-party add-on services are popping up to bridge the gap; for example, Connectotel (http://www.Connectotel.com/) demonstrated a Skype to Short Message Service (SMS) gateway in early 2005. See Chapter 11 for add-ons, tools, and services that extend Skype.

For this hack, I assume that you already have Skype up and running, you've made your first Skype call with "Make Your First Skype Call" [Hack #1] , and you're ready to explore Skype's chat feature. So, if you're ready to chat, let's begin:

Check out how chat works online: Skype provides online visual guides that explain specific Skype features. Before embarking on a chat session, you would do well to get to know Skype's chat features by reviewing the chat visual guide, located at http://www.skype.com/help/guides/message.html.
Configure settings: Open Skype and select Tools → Options… (Skype → Preferences… on Mac OS X) to display the configuration settings window. You will find chat settings under the categories listed in Table 1-2. Review chat settings in these categories, make any desired changes, and then save your Skype configuration options.

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If you're new to Skype, this hack will help you set up and make a conference call quickly and with a minimum of fuss.

Works with: Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X versions of Skype.

A conference call allows several geographically separated people to talk with each other as though they are sitting in the same conference room. Skype allows you, and up to four others (at the time of this writing), to join together in a conference call.

Before moving on to the mechanics of making a Skype conference call, you should be aware of a number of ground rules and limitations pertaining to Skype conference calls. First, conference participants can't dial-in to your SkypeIn number to join the conference, so you can invite only Skype users and SkypeOut contacts (for which, in the case of the latter, you make the outgoing calls and are billed at the appropriate call rate for each participant's call destination) to join a conference. Conference call participants can, of course, hang up and leave the conference at any time. Second, you, as the conference host, are the only person who can invite more people to join the conference while it is in progress, and you are the only person who can bring the conference to an end. Third, you must have sufficient available bandwidth to host the conference, as your bandwidth needs scale roughly in proportion to the number of conference participants; if you don't, you might want to consider having one of the other conference participants become the conference host, if they have more available bandwidth than you do.

So, you've made your first Skype call ("Make Your First Skype Call" [Hack #1] ), you're chatting online ("Chat Using Skype" [Hack #2] ) with friends and family as though there's no tomorrow—what's next? Setting up and making a conference call is a snap if you follow these steps:

Check out how conference calls work online: Use Skype's online visual user guide to get to know how conference calls work (

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Experiment with receiving regular phone calls to a SkypeIn dial-in number. Even better, follow the advice in this hack and you can try it for free and without risk.

Works with: all versions of Skype.

There are three easy ways to try SkypeOut. First, you can purchase some SkypeOut credits. Second, you can purchase an item of Skype-compatible hardware bundled with which is a voucher for SkypeOut call minutes. Third, you can use a Skype Gift Certificate that you've been given (visit the web page for Skype Gift Certificates at http://share.skype.com/blog/products_andservices/we_bring_you…_skype_gift_certificates/ for details).

You can buy SkypeOut credits directly from the Skype web site, http://www.Skype.com/, using a variety of payment methods (but see "Avoid Problems Paying for Services" [Hack #15] ). With some credits in hand, you can start dialing regular telephone numbers (see "Dial Like a Wizard" [Hack #11] ).

Now, here's the risk-free part. If while experimenting with SkypeOut, you keep your calls to less than ₠1 (about $1.25) in value (this gives you about 58 minutes of call time at SkypeOut's lowest global rate, but see "Avoid Higher SkypeOut Rates" [Hack #17] ) and you don't like it, you can simply claim a refund (see "Claim Your Money Back" [Hack #16] ) for the full amount of the credits you bought. Even if you inadvertently step over the ₠1 threshold for a full refund, it's not a total loss if you change your mind about SkypeOut, as you can request a refund of the unused balance of your credits. In fact, you can claim a refund at any time on these terms for your last SkypeOut credit purchase, regardless of whether it's your first credit purchase or a subsequent top-up purchase. However, SkypeOut credits do expire, so don't wait too long to request your refund (see "Avoid Forfeiting SkypeOut Credits" [Hack #21] ).

An alternative to buying SkypeOut credits is to purchase an item of Skype-compatible hardware that is bundled with a voucher for SkypeOut credits. Skype has partnered with manufacturers of sound headsets and other types of complementary hardware add-ons to encourage you to start using Skype-Out. These vouchers typically offer 30 to 120 minutes of SkypeOut call time based on the lowest SkypeOut global rate, which means that you'll get your full 30 to 120 minutes if you call destinations having the lowest global rate, but possibly far fewer minutes if you call destinations at higher SkypeOut rates. Moreover, in the case of Skype vouchers used to fund Skype services, there is no refund option if you decide you don't like SkypeOut—but, of course, you do get to keep the hardware and use it for other things!

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Experiment with receiving regular phone calls to a SkypeIn dial-in number. Even better, follow the advice in this hack and you can try it for free and without risk.

Works with: all versions of Skype.

SkypeIn is a prepaid subscription service that enables you to have a regular dial-in phone number that routes calls to wherever you are logged onto Skype. This means that a dedicated SkypeIn dial-in phone number can follow you wherever you go—try that with a regular landline!

SkypeIn telephone numbers are available for several countries, and even for regions within those countries. See the Skype web site, http://www.Skype.com/, for details and availability.

Regardless of which geographical location you get your dial-in number for, you have the choice of getting a 3-month or 12-month subscription, currently ₠10 and ₠30 (about $12.50 and $37.50), respectively. Skype Voicemail (see "Try Skype Voicemail, Risk Free" [Hack #6] ) is currently bundled free of charge with SkypeIn. Skype Gift Certificates can also be used to activate the SkypeIn service.

Trying SkypeIn is risk free if you follow this advice. Experiment with SkypeIn for less than 30 days, and then decide whether to keep it. If you decide you don't want SkypeIn, request a refund (see "Claim Your Money Back" [Hack #16] ) within 30 days of purchasing a subscription and Skype will refund your money in full. Even if you inadvertently step over the 30-day qualifying trial period for a full refund, it's not a total loss if you change your mind about SkypeIn, as you can request a refund of the unused balance, which will be refunded on a pro rata basis. In fact, you can claim a refund on these terms at any time for a SkypeIn subscription, regardless of whether it is a new subscription or a renewal.

You can find Skype's terms and conditions at http://www.skype.com/company/legal/terms/tos_voip.html. Of particular interest for those who want to try SkypeIn without any risk is "Article 6—REFUND POLICY."

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Experiment with Skype Voicemail. Even better, follow the advice in this hack and you can try it for free and without risk.

Works with: all versions of Skype.

The Skype Voicemail service is for those times when you're already online talking to someone else, or you're otherwise unavailable (for example, offline). Calls are automatically routed to a voicemail account that can have a personalized greeting, and that you can access from wherever you are logged onto Skype. You can keep your voicemails for as long as you want.

Skype Voicemail has a neat feature that allows you to send voicemail to any Skype user, regardless of whether they are a Skype Voicemail subscriber. Both Skype users and callers that use your SkypeIn number, if you have one (see "Try SkypeIn, Risk Free" [Hack #5] ), can leave voicemail messages for you. Indeed, Skype Voicemail is currently bundled for free with a SkypeIn subscription.

If you don't have a SkypeIn account, but nevertheless would like to take advantage of the services provided by Skype Voicemail, a subscription currently costs ₠5 (about $6.25) for three months and ₠ 15 (about $18.75) for one year. Skype Gift Certificates can also be used to activate Skype Voicemail service.

You can try Skype Voicemail for free and without risk if you follow these simple steps. Purchase a three-month or one-year subscription. Experiment with Skype Voicemail for less than 30 days, and if you don't like it, Skype will refund your subscription in full upon request (see "Claim Your Money Back" [Hack #16] ).

After 30 days, Skype will refund only the unused portion of your last subscription payment on a pro rata basis. In fact, you can claim a refund on these terms at any time for a Skype Voicemail subscription, regardless of whether it is a new subscription or a renewal.

You can find Skype's terms and conditions at http://www.skype.com/company/legal/terms/tos_voip.html. Of particular interest for those who want to try Skype Voicemail without any risk is "Article 6—REFUND POLICY."

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Using the Skype Zones service, you can wander the globe and use Skype at any of the 18,000+ wireless hotspots available.

Works with: Windows version of Skype.

Skype has partnered with Boingo, http://www.boingo.com/, to provide Skype users with access to wireless hotspots spread around the globe. Using these hotspots, Skype users can make and receive calls, chat, send voicemail, listen to voicemail—in fact, use the whole gamut of Skype services.

Currently available through two different plans, this service may prove ideal for Skype users on the move. The Skype Zones Unlimited plan has a monthly subscription of $7.95 (about ₠6.35) that allows for unlimited use across the whole Boingo network. The Skype Zones AsYouGo plan has a per-connection fee of $2.95 (about ₠2.35) that allows access from any single network location for up to two consecutive hours. Clearly, if you roam from point to point on the Boingo network, this second plan can get expensive very quickly!

Skype Zones is different from Skype's other service offerings in two respects. First, the service is priced in U.S. dollars ($) rather than euros (₠). Second, trying the service is not risk free in the sense that there is no full refund option should you decide that Skype Zones is not for you. However, on the plus side, there is no long-term contract commitment, and in the case of the Skype Zones Unlimited plan, you can terminate your subscription at any time by notifying Skype and Boingo at least five days before the end of your billing cycle.

You can find full terms and conditions for the Skype Zones service at http://www.skype.com/products/skypezones/. You will have to click on the "Sign up for Skype Zones now to get started" link to get to a page with the text of the terms and conditions.

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Using Skype, you can transfer files quickly and securely, even while you talk or chat.

Works with: Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X versions of Skype.

You can use Skype to transfer files to other Skype users who have already authorized you. Indeed, it can be an easy way to transfer files among different machines in your own home or business (see "Transfer Files Among Diverse Machines" [Hack #57] ).

Skype has several advantages over email attachments when it comes to transferring files. First, it's more secure, because the communications link is encrypted end to end. Second, there's no limit on file size, whereas email attachments, if not limited in size as a policy of the email server, are certainly limited by the size of your mail server inbox. Finally, it can be quicker, as you can transfer a file during a call or while chatting, often with no more effort than that required to drag-and-drop a file.

You can initiate a file transfer in several different ways, as shown in Table 1-7.

Skype file transfer is currently not supported on Pocket PC.

Table 1-7: Ways of initiating a file transfer in Skype
Action to initiate a file transfer	Windows	Linux	Mac OS X
In the Contacts tab…
Select the contact, right-click, and then choose Send File.	✓	✓	Contacts → Send File

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Most regular phone plans don't charge for toll-free numbers you call in your own country, but what about toll-free numbers in other countries? Skype allows you to make free toll-free calls for your own country, and for other countries!!

Works with: all versions of Skype.

Many VoIP plans charge for what would otherwise be toll-free calls (1-800 and the like in the U.S. and other numbers elsewhere) under a regular phone plan. Indeed, until recently, Skype also charged for these types of calls.

Now, many toll-free calls are free when made using Skype. Even better, you don't have to be a SkypeOut subscriber to take advantage of making toll-free calls without paying a penny.

Regular phone plans normally don't charge for calling toll-free numbers in your own country, but that is not usually the case for toll-free numbers in other countries. In fact, such numbers might simply be blocked. With Skype toll-free calling, there is no such restriction.

Support for all types of toll-free numbers in all countries is not yet available. Skype currently supports the following countries and number prefixes:

France: +33-800, +33-805, +33-809
Poland: +48-800
United Kingdom: +44-500, +44-800, +44-808
United States and Canada: +1-800, +1-866, +1-877, +1-888

You can obtain toll-free directory assistance for some U.S. toll-free numbers by calling +1-800-555-1212. The service is free, but not all U.S. toll-free numbers are listed—only those for subscribers that choose to list them.

Some toll-free numbers in the U.S. are geographically restricted in the sense that calls to that number will be accepted only if they originate from a caller in a known geographic region. Because you can make SkypeOut calls from anywhere, these restricted numbers cannot determine your location and therefore may block the call.

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Have your calls follow you around! Skype's call-forwarding feature can forward your calls when you're on the move.

Works with: Windows version of Skype.

Skype gives you the option to forward incoming calls to up to three alternative Skype accounts (or regular phone numbers if you're a SkypeOut subscriber). This works whether the incoming call is from another Skype user or, if you have a SkypeIn number, from a regular phone. However, how quickly calls are forwarded depends on your online status, as shown in Table 1-8.

Table 1-8: Typical delay before a call is forwarded
Online status	Call forwarded
Skype not running	Immediately
Online	Between three to five rings
Offline	Immediately
Skype Me	Between three to five rings
Away	Between three to five rings
Not available	Between three to five rings
Do not disturb	Between three to five rings
Invisible	Between three to five rings

To forward calls you must first specify the forwarding Skype names or regular phone numbers (select Skype → Tools → Options… → Call Forwarding & Voicemail), as shown in Figure 1-12. To activate call forwarding you must put a checkmark in the checkbox opposite "Forward calls when I'm not on Skype."

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Use Skype's Dialing Wizard to find the correct dial number format and call rate.

Works with: all versions of Skype.

Dialing the wrong number using SkypeOut can be costly in terms of both time and money. You can waste time as you fumble to find the right sequence of digits to make the call, and you can waste money because connecting to the wrong number can be costly, as some SkypeOut rates are more than ₠1 per minute, and all calls are rounded up to whole minutes.

You can dial a telephone number with Skype in many ways. You can enter digits directly from your computer keyboard into Skype's address bar, use Skype's keypad (on the Dial tab), double-click on an entry in the your Contacts list (Skype can also be set up so that double-click starts a chat), use an advanced USB handset, click on a link in your web browser (see "Make Calls from Your Web Browser" [Hack #43] ), or access a shortcut on your desktop (see "Add Fast-Dial Shortcuts to Your Menu or Desktop" [Hack #49] ), among other options. Regardless of what method you use to dial a number, all will be for naught if you don't get the format right.

To enter the prefix + using the keypad on Skype's Dial tab, click and hold down your left mouse button over the button with 0+ on it for 2 seconds.

Perhaps the least error-prone method of finding the right digit sequence to call is to use the Skype Dialing Wizard (see Figure 1-13), which you can find at http://www.skype.com/products/skypeout/rates/dialing.html.

This wizard also has the added advantage of giving you the per-minute call rate for the number you want to dial. And if your web browser is configured properly (see "Make Calls from Your Web Browser" [Hack #43] ), you can dial the number directly from your browser with just one click.

Skype's Dialing Wizard quotes call rates in euros. Knowing the exchange rate between euros and your home currency will allow you to make a quick mental calculation to convert the call rate into something more meaningful. Alternatively, if you don't know the current exchange rate or you simply don't trust your mental arithmetic, visit the Skype rates page,

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Is Skype refusing to play ball? Use these resources and tips to troubleshoot problems with Skype.

Works with: all versions of Skype.

No piece of software is error free or even problem free, so when things go wrong you can either give up, or troubleshoot the problem. If you are an O'Reilly book reader, that puts you most definitely into the category of someone who is willing to troubleshoot!

This hack provides places to look for information and seek help, and some things to try for some of Skype's more-common problems.

These online sources of information and help are both useful and free! When researching a problem, you should visit these information sources in the sequence presented in the following list.

User guides: Skype has put together a number of visual guides for its software, located at http://www.skype.com/help/guides/. These visual guides are very good, as they break each Skype activity into small, easy-to-follow steps. Often, a quick review of your actions for a particular Skype activity using one of these guides will pinpoint where, and sometimes how, things went wrong.
Troubleshooter: Skype's interactive troubleshooter, http://support.skype.com/?_a=troubleshooter, leads you through a step-by-step diagnosis of your problem, and presents suggestions for how you might fix it.
Sound setup guide: If you think that you have a sound setup problem, which is where most users new to Skype come to grief, read one of Skype's sound setup guides, located at http://www.skype.com/help/guides/soundsetup.html.
Knowledgebase: Search Skype's knowledgebase at

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For some people, Skype might be a sufficiently interesting application of VoIP technology to justify playing with it. For most people, however, the motivation for bringing Skype into their life will be based on simple economics. Skype has the potential to save you money; in fact, quite a lot of money!

In this chapter, I will help you get a handle on whether Skype will save you money and, specifically, how much money. Given the wide range of telephone services that Skype can potentially replace, or complement, I cannot cover every scenario. But this chapter does provide some ways of looking at the potential savings and some tools to quantify those savings. Your goal is to estimate these savings with a sufficient margin for error so that you will feel confident enough to make a decision: switch to Skype, or stick with what you've got.

Switching to Skype is not an all-or-nothing proposition. You may choose to use Skype merely as an adjunct to your existing phone services. Alternatively, you may choose to run Skype in parallel with your existing setup for a while before switching fully to Skype. If you're bold, you may leap right in and make Skype a full-blown replacement to your existing telephone system. Whatever approach you take, when figuring savings your focus will necessarily be on the long-term savings of your telephone system as it will look sometime in the future. For this reason, and as an aid for comparisons, I will express savings on an annual basis.

When thinking about savings that stretch far into the future, it is necessary to think like an economist to gauge your true lifetime savings. Savings from using Skype are likely to persist long into the future, so a $100 annual savings is $100 saved this year, next year, and every year beyond that. Such a series of cash savings stretching as far as the eye—or at least the imagination—can see is termed a perpetuity. A $100 perpetuity is clearly worth much more than just $100, as it is really $100 stacked on top of $100, on top of another $100, and so on, as the years pass by. For example, if you figure that by switching to Skype you will save $500 per year, just imagine having twenty-five $20 bills counted into the palm of your hand at the end of the first year, and then again at the end of the second year, and then again and again year after year.

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For some people, Skype might be a sufficiently interesting application of VoIP technology to justify playing with it. For most people, however, the motivation for bringing Skype into their life will be based on simple economics. Skype has the potential to save you money; in fact, quite a lot of money!

In this chapter, I will help you get a handle on whether Skype will save you money and, specifically, how much money. Given the wide range of telephone services that Skype can potentially replace, or complement, I cannot cover every scenario. But this chapter does provide some ways of looking at the potential savings and some tools to quantify those savings. Your goal is to estimate these savings with a sufficient margin for error so that you will feel confident enough to make a decision: switch to Skype, or stick with what you've got.

Switching to Skype is not an all-or-nothing proposition. You may choose to use Skype merely as an adjunct to your existing phone services. Alternatively, you may choose to run Skype in parallel with your existing setup for a while before switching fully to Skype. If you're bold, you may leap right in and make Skype a full-blown replacement to your existing telephone system. Whatever approach you take, when figuring savings your focus will necessarily be on the long-term savings of your telephone system as it will look sometime in the future. For this reason, and as an aid for comparisons, I will express savings on an annual basis.

When thinking about savings that stretch far into the future, it is necessary to think like an economist to gauge your true lifetime savings. Savings from using Skype are likely to persist long into the future, so a $100 annual savings is $100 saved this year, next year, and every year beyond that. Such a series of cash savings stretching as far as the eye—or at least the imagination—can see is termed a perpetuity. A $100 perpetuity is clearly worth much more than just $100, as it is really $100 stacked on top of $100, on top of another $100, and so on, as the years pass by. For example, if you figure that by switching to Skype you will save $500 per year, just imagine having twenty-five $20 bills counted into the palm of your hand at the end of the first year, and then again at the end of the second year, and then again and again year after year.

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Follow this simple method to get a rough idea of your potential savings from switching to Skype.

Works with: all versions of Skype.

On the Skype Hacks web site, you will find a hack—"Save Money with Skype"—that leads you through a rather complete explanation of how to determine how much you'll save by switching to Skype. However, if you simply want to get a rough idea of your potential savings, you can do so with nothing more than a pencil, a calculator, and a blank sheet of paper (or an envelope).

If you look at your current telephone bill, you can logically divide it into two parts: variable calls, and fixed charges and taxes. It is not uncommon for the latter, fixed charges and taxes, to comprise the major part of your phone bill. Indeed, they represented fully 56% of my old phone bill!

You can use Skype to attack both parts to reduce your overall bill for phone services. Bear in mind that adopting Skype does not mean you have to get rid of your existing phone service. You can mix-and-match regular telephone services with Skype, or with other VoIP services (see "Get the Best Deal for VoIP Telephony" [Hack #22] ).

Each time you make a phone call, the cost of that call is determined by three pieces of information. The first is the duration of the call; for example, 3 minutes, 12 seconds. The second is the call rate, usually expressed as the price for 1 minute of call time; for example, $0.10 per minute. The third is the call-rounding interval, usually expressed in seconds and rounded upward; for example, calls that are rounded up in 6-second intervals will cost $0.10 X 6/60 ( = $0.01) per unit interval, while calls that are rounded up in 60-second (full-minute) intervals will cost $0.10 per unit interval.

Basically, the per-unit rate for anything other than 1-minute rounding is the per-minute call rate (in your home currency), times the rounding interval measured in seconds, and divided by 60 seconds. Shorter call-rounding intervals are to your advantage, so you should know that SkypeOut calls are rounded to the full minute. To understand more about call rounding, you may want to look at "Round Call Time to Your Advantage"

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Pay the proper Sales and Use taxes and Value Added Taxes (VAT) to avoid the wrath of the taxman. Some people may even qualify to claim back VAT!

Works with: all versions of Skype.

A shockingly large proportion of most regular telephone bills comprise fixed charges and taxes. In my case, before switching to Skype, fixed charges and taxes represented fully 56% of my total bill. Fixed charges seem to guarantee that your telephone company, often a state-run entity or regulated monopoly, will make a profit before you even lift the handset to make a call. At the same time, the taxes on your phone bill have become the means by which government funds new, and wasteful, crackpot schemes. Well, no more.

By switching to Skype, you can easily and legitimately sidestep many of the fixed charges and fees. Also, you can legally avoid many, but alas not all, of the taxes.

Over the years, your regular telephone bill has accumulated quite a few "special" taxes, similar to the way in which barnacles accumulate over time on the hull of a ship. Neither can be said to be particularly advantageous to forward motion. Some of these "special" taxes were introduced long ago as only a "temporary measure" but, surprisingly, are still with us today. You can sidestep these "special" taxes if they are specific to your regular telephone bill and to the regulatory environment within which your telephone company operates.

What you cannot avoid are the "consumption" taxes that are applicable to all products and services you consume, including those from Skype. In the U.S., these consumption taxes are typically known as Sales and Use taxes, and may be levied at the state and local level. In the European Union (EU), they are known as Value Added Tax, or more simply, VAT. Similar taxes apply the world over, though under different names.

Often, these taxes are collected at the source and are folded into the price of the product or service and collected on behalf of the taxman by the vendor. However, when they are not so collected, your obligation to pay them does not go away.

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Avoid problems and additional charges when paying for Skype services.

Works with: all versions of Skype.

Paying for Skype services is seemingly so fraught with problems and difficulties that it merits its own discussion forum on www.Skype.com: Payments and Billing. Likewise, Skype's knowledgebase contains a Payments and Billing category, and it is a good resource for answering many questions you have on billing.

What follows are some tips and guidelines on how to avoid much of the aggravation associated with paying for Skype services.

There are several ways of paying for services: Visa, MasterCard/Eurocard, DinersClub, PayPal, Money-bookers, Rabo Direct Betalen (the Netherlands only), Hansabank online (Estonia only), eNETS (Singapore only), ELBA Payments (Austria only), eBetalning (Sweden only), and Offline Bank Transfer (Japan, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Finland, France, the UK, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden). As indicated, not all payment options are available in all countries. Check the Skype web site for the payment options currently available to you.

A more indirect way of paying for Skype services is by means of vouchers and Skype Points, and Skype Gift Certificates.

Business users of Skype can pay for Skype services by means of Skype Groups, which allows a group administrator to purchase and mange Skype Credits, SkypeIn numbers, and Voicemail for all members of the group. For mor details, go to http://www.skype.com/products/skypegroups/. Skype Groups is not discussed further in this hack..

Vouchers used to promote Skype are provided by companies with which Skype has partnered (makers of headsets and other Skype accessories). Each voucher has a monetary value printed on it together with an equivalent number of SkypeOut call minutes based on Skype's global rate, currently ₠0.017 per minute. You can redeem vouchers at https://secure.skype.com/store/voucher/redeem.html

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Under certain circumstances, Skype will refund your money for missing credits and hiccups with other services.

Works with: all versions of Skype.

Even when you do everything you can to smooth the process of paying for Skype services and use them in a reasonable way, things can go wrong.

To claim a refund, you basically have three options.

If at any time and for any reason, you are unhappy with any Skype service—SkypeOut, SkypeIn, or Voicemail—you can request a refund of your last subscription payment.

For SkypeOut, if you have spent less than ₠1 of your last subscription payment, Skype will refund the whole amount of that payment. If you have spent more than ₠1, Skype will refund only the balance left.

For SkypeIn and Voicemail, if you ask for a refund within 30 days of your last payment, Skype will refund the whole amount of that payment. After more than 30 days, Skype will refund only the amount remaining for your subscription on a pro rata basis.

These types of refunds take five to seven business days to appear in your online financial statements.

If you are generally happy with the services provided by Skype, but there are specific issues for which you want redress, you can request a refund on a case-by-case basis. You should address such a refund by gathering your facts and presenting them clearly to Skype in the form of a support request posted at the Skype web site. If your facts are correct and your request is reasonable, Skype may very well refund your money.

In the Submit a Support Request form at www.Skype.com, you are given the option of directing your request to a specific department. Clearly, directing your request to the right department will speed up a reply. To claim your money back, you should direct your request to one of these departments, as appropriate: Refund Request, Fraudulent Charges, Incorrect Charges, or Billing.

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SkypeOut rates can vary depending on the number called. Don't be caught out by higher rates.

Works with: all versions of Skype.

SkypeOut rates vary by call destination—where you are calling to, not where you are calling from. A call to your next-door neighbor is charged the same SkypeOut rate whether you are calling from your home or from a vacation hotel thousands of miles away. Moreover, SkypeOut rates do not depend on the time of day or anything like that.

Not only do SkypeOut rates vary from country to country, rates can also be very different for different categories of phone number within the same country. If SkypeOut rates were determined solely by the country calling code (for example, +44 for the UK and +34 for Spain), life would be a lot simpler. Sadly, life isn't so simple.

It would also be nice if SkypeOut rates were chiseled in stone and so would remain unchanged forever. But, again, life is not so simple and SkypeOut rates do change from time to time.

Currently there is no easy way to determine a SkypeOut rate before making a call. All SkypeOut rates are published at http://www.skype.com/products/skypeout/rates/all_rates.html. Another option is to use the Skype Dialing Wizard, which you can find at http://www.skype.com/products/skypeout/rates/dialing.html.

For calls made to the same country code, SkypeOut rates can vary based on whether the recipient of the call is a mobile phone, has a certain area or region code, or is a shared cost number (shared cost numbers are premium numbers often used by businesses and other institutions).

SkypeOut rates for mobile phones vary not just by destination country, but also by mobile network carrier. So, for example, the SkypeOut rate for calls to mobile phones in Belgium might depend on which mobile carrier is the provider for the call recipient.

Shared cost numbers in the UK have the area codes 0844, 0845, 0870, or 0871. Calls to these numbers are billed at a substantially higher rate than regular calls to the UK.

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The rate charged for both the Skype caller and a mobile phone recipient can vary depending on what mobile phone is called and where it is geographically located.

Works with: all versions of Skype.

SkypeOut call rates vary by destination and by the type of receiving device—regular phone or mobile (see "Avoid Higher SkypeOut Rates" [Hack #17] ).

Often, the rate charged to a mobile phone depends on its location, both when dialing out and when receiving calls. When a mobile phone is outside its designated home network, it is charged additional roaming fees for outgoing and (possibly) incoming calls. So, you can inadvertently cost your call recipient a lot of money by calling him at the wrong time and place. How are you to know when he is outside his regular network (for example, when he is traveling)? This is where a little forward planning by the person who is traveling pays dividends. Ask him to tell you and others in advance when he'll be traveling and suggest that he make his place of doing business or his hotel his alternative contact number. And, on his Skype or regular phone voicemail greeting, have him leave a message telling people where he is and how best to contact him.

Obviously, if you use a mobile phone and Skype, this works in reverse when you are traveling, therefore saving you money. Think ahead and save money.

As an alternative to calling someone's mobile phone, if your message is short, you might want to send a Short Message Service (SMS) message instead. SMS messages are typically far cheaper than voice calls.

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Join the Skype Affiliate Program and have Skype pay you!

Works with: all versions of Skype.

If you have your own web site or blog, you can refer people to Skype and get paid for it under Skype's Affiliate Program. You get paid a percentage of the money spent by those people whom you refer to Skype via your web site or blog, and who subsequently buy Skype services within 90 days of being referred. Here's how it works:

Join Skype affiliates by completing the short application form on Skype's web site.
Sign in to your new affiliate account.
Choose the links to place on your web site or blog.
Sit back and wait for the money to roll in!

You can join the Skype Affiliate Program by visiting http://www.skype.com/partners/affiliate/.

So, how much can you expect to make? This rather depends on how successful you are at driving people to Skype and whether they buy Skype services. The program is set up to reward success in converting people to Skype services; the more people you convert, the more money you make. Table 2-17 shows the commission rates in effect at the time of this writing.

Table 2-17: Skype affiliate commission rates
Monthly converts	SkypeOut	SkypeIn	Skype Voicemail
1–unlimited	5%	10%	10%

Skype will track who buys, how much they buy, and when they buy. Every customer who clicks through to Skype from your web site is counted, even if he visits Skype's web site directly later on. Provided he purchases Skype services within 90 days from clicking through from your site, you will get a piece of the action.

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You can make money using the Skype Application Programming Interface (API), if you have programming skills.

Works with: all versions of Skype that support the API.

Skype has an API that allows those with programming skills to extend Skype's functionality in new and interesting ways. There is a burgeoning market for software and hardware add-ons for Skype (see Chapter 11) that use the Skype API.

Programming using the Skype API is not difficult, and there are some free components that allow you to call the API from different languages. For those too intimidated by the Skype API, an alternative is scripting languages for extending Skype's functionality. Or, you can use scripting in conjunction with the API, which is dealt with in Chapter 12.

All it takes to make a useful add-on for Skype is a good idea and the where-withal to carry it through.

You can make money using the Skype API in three ways: through bounties, by developing add-ons that you can sell, and by working as a Skype programmer.

Bounties are offered by companies and open source projects for Skype add-ons that enhance their products or services. For example, at the time of this writing, there is an open bounty of $1,500 to extend Asterisk (a popular open source Private Branch Exchange (PBX) system: http://www.asterisk.org/) to work with Skype.

The bounty for Asterisk-Skype integration (and other bounties) is listed at http://www.opensourcexperts.com/.

Bear in mind, the trend of offering bounties in both commercial and open source communities is a growing; just Google on "Skype (bounty OR bounties)" to find out more.

Many Skype add-ons are free, but many are also being sold. Obviously, add-ons with "must have" functionality are more likely to sell. To get some idea of what sorts of add-ons for Skype already exist and how they are being sold, see Chapter 11.

At the time of this writing, Skype was growing at a phenomenal rate and had been acquired by eBay. Job and work-for-hire offers occasionally crop up on the Skype forums. Searching job search web sites (for example,

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You must continue to use your SkypeOut account so that you don't lose your SkypeOut credits.

Works with: all versions of Skype.

You will lose your SkypeOut credits only if you are an infrequent SkypeOut user. If you keep a SkypeOut balance only for emergencies, travel, or whatever, you must make the occasional call just to avoid forfeiting your remaining SkypeOut balance. As the Skype "Terms of Service" (May 2005) states:

6.5 A credit balance for SkypeOut service expires 180 days after last chargeable usage of SkypeOut service. Credit balances not used within said 180 day period will be lost.

You can find complete details at http://www.skype.com/company/legal/terms/tos_voip.html.

Make at least one call every 180 days and keep your SkypeOut credits safe.

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Skype is not your only option for VoIP telephony. You may want to consider other providers instead of or as a complement to Skype, based on your needs.

Works with: all versions of Skype.

Skype offers free Skype-to-Skype calls and some of the lowest rates available for calls to regular phones. However, other VoIP providers offer rates lower than Skype for some call destinations. Some even offer free calling to destinations for which Skype charges. Moreover, there might be other services (for example, 911 emergency service) that Skype does not provide and which are important to you.

Of course, nothing is stopping you from having as many VoIP providers as you want. You have a great deal of choice nowadays, and you can pick and choose as though from a menu. It's certainly worth hunting down the best deal by keeping an eye on what's out there. For example, Finarea SA's Voip-Buster service (http://www.voipbuster.com/) offers free calls to regular telephones in some countries. Even Skype can't beat that!

At the time of this writing, Finarea SA was offering free calls (with some restrictions) to Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

For details, visit http://www.voipbuster.com.

You should consider many factors (such as voice quality, reliability, and usability) when deciding on the best choice for you, based on your calling habits. Even if you are a Skype fan, you can still choose to complement Skype with other VoIP offerings or, indeed, with regular phone and mobile phone offerings. Choice is a wonderful thing!

You can find plenty of VoIP alternatives to Skype by Googling on "VoIP phone service." But to get you started so that you have a sense of what's out there, Table 2-18 lists a grab bag of suggestions for where to start looking for the best VoIP deals.

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By understanding how Skype figures the cost of your call, you can save money.

Works with: all versions of Skype.

Over the long run, the way in which call times are rounded can make a big difference. This is particularly true if your call volume is large, as it might be for medium to large organizations that use SkypeOut.

To illustrate why, consider this example. Ten thousand calls are made with a random duration of between 15 and 60 seconds. First, calls are rounded up to the next 6-second interval, and then calls are rounded up to the whole minute. Using just one set of randomly generated data, you should get results similar to these: 6-second rounding → 66,240 (approx.) billing units, and 1-minute rounding → 10,000 (exact) billing units. Furthermore, suppose calls are uniformly priced at $0.10 per minute (that's $0.01 per 6-second interval). Clearly, 1-minute rounding will result in a total bill of $1,000. However, by contrast, 6-second rounding will bring the total bill down to about $660. That's a big difference. Remember, the per-minute call rate is the same in both cases; rounding alone accounts for the difference.

When calls are rounded not to the next second, but up to some other time interval, for some fraction of your calls that fall short of the next full time increment, you are effectively paying for call time that you don't use. To see the significance of this effect, let's again look at some results from making 10,000 random calls based on a minimum and maximum time limit for the calls (see Table 2-19).

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