 |
|||
 |
|||
|
|||
Skype: Call for free
Using Skype to make free (or nearly free) phone calls in Italy
Use Skype to call Italy for just 2.3¢ per minute
www.skype.com
PHONES & INTERNET
Cellphone/Sat phone rentals: Cellularabroad.com, Mobal.com, Telestial.com
Skype: Skype.com
Portable MiFi hostpot rentals: Cellularabroad.com
WiFi hotspot finders:Wififreespot.com, Hotspot-locations.com, Jaunted.com
Cybercafes: Cybercafes.com, cafe.ecs.net, Cybercaptive.com, World66.com
Calling cards: Speedypin.com, Telestial.com, Callingcards.com
, SPEAKING ITALIAN
Phrase books: Barnesandnoble.com
Online translators: translate.google.com, babelfish.yahoo.com, Bing, translate.reference.com
Electronic translators: Magellans.com, Amazon.com
Translator apps: World Nomads, 24/7 Tutor, Coolgorilla, WordRoll, Lonely Planet, Odyssey Translator
Language learning: Barnesandnoble.com, bbc.co.uk/languages
ReidsItaly.com Italy Map
» View ENLARGED MAP with all listings
Tours & Activities
I suggest using a service like Skype
to call Italy (or anywhere in the world) from your computer for just 2.3¢ per minute.
That's the cost to dial a land line anywhere. They call it "Skype Out," and while the official flat rate is 2.1¢, that doesn't include the Italian taxes, which bump it up to 2.3¢. (To call an Italian cellphone is 30.8¢ per minute.)
Even better, all calls to other Skype users are free. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Niente. It costs exactly $0.00 to make a Skype-to-Skype call.
Skype calling plans
If you plan to be a heavy user—perhaps the Italy trip is a semester abroad and will involve much more calling than a short vacation—and don't want to pay 2.1¢ per minute to "Skype out" to land line phones, you can also sign up for a unlimited monthly plan.
The $2.99/month plan for U.S. and Canada obviously won't work for travel abroad, but you could get one of the following:
• $6.99/month unlimited plan to a single country
• $8.99/month unlimited plan to call 20 European countries
• $13.99/month unlimited plan to up to 40 countries
• Incremental plans: cheapskates can also buy monthly minutes to a single country. Varies by country; for example, for Italy it's $1.09/month for 60 min., $2.09 for 120 min., $4.99 for 400 min.
It also couldn't be simpler to use. You just download the software, install it, open an account, and put a little bit of money into it via PayPal or a credit card. (I find I have to top it off with $10 only every 6–8 months or so—and I call abroad a lot for my work.)
Another idea: get an Italian cellphone and have your friends and family back home use Skype to call you (though that will bump you up to the cellphone fee of 35.4¢ per minute).
Use Skype to call home from Italy for free (if "home" has a computer; otherwise, again: only 2.3¢ per minute to call a land line)
I used to spend hundreds of dollars a year on international calling plans and phone cards, which, for a monthly fee, would allow me to call home for 5¢ per minute (plus a $5 connection fee on each call).
Now I make video calls home as often as I want—and it doesn't cost me a single penny.
I use Skype on my laptop and smartphone and WiFi (either free-ranging hotspots, or at my hotels) to make free video calls back home.
Your intrepid reporter Skypes home using his laptop and a stray WiFi signal by a canal in Venice .This has been a lifesaver, especially now that I have a young son (we can see and talk to each other almost every day, even when Daddy is over in Italy working; I can even read him bedtime stories.)
Again, it's free to Skype someone else using Skype (it's how my son video chats with his grandparents several times a week).
So if you are using Skype—either on your laptop or handheld, or from an Internet cafe, many of which have stations with earphone/mic headsets set aside for just this purpose—and your loved ones at home also have Skype installed on their computers, all "calls" are free.
If you use Skype to call a land line (regular phone) back home, again it only incurs that 2.3¢ per minute charge.
I love Skype.
Related pages
ShareThis 
Search ReidsItaly.com
This material was last updated February 2011. All information was accurate at the time.
about | contact | faq
» THE REIDSITALY.COM DIFFERENCE «
Copyright © 2008–2012 by Reid Bramblett. Author: Reid Bramblett
