[August 03, 2005] SkypeOut Turns One and Gets a New Gadget Tweet BY JOHANNE TORRES TMCnet VoIP Minute Watch Columnist ----- TMCnet has big news from Skype this morning. The internet telephony service provider teamed up with Actiontec Electronics to allow Skypers to make VoIP calls from standard telephones. This announcement was made as Skype celebrates the first anniversary of its SkypeOut service. Through a new agreement, Actiontec Electronics will be integrating its Internet Phone Wizard with Skype's telephony software to enable Skypers to use their standard home phone to make VoIP calls. According to an official news announcement released today, with the new Internet Phone Wizard "connected to a PC, this small hardware accessory allows free and low-cost Skype calls to be made from and received by any traditional handset." The devices will be sold through http://www.dabs.com and http://www.retailonline.co.uk. UK consumers who purchase the £34 Actiontec product online also receive vouchers for 60 free SkypeOut minutes and one month of free Skype voicemail under a UK-exclusive promotion that begins today. There is no need for Skypers to get special phones to use the Actiontec product, and the same phone can be used for regular landline and Skype-based calls. The device also provides a second phone line at no cost allowing other users on different phone extensions to use both standard and Internet call lines simultaneously. Skype has attracted more than 47 million users around the world who use the service while theyre sitting at their PCs, but there are many more people who want to be able to make and receive Skype phone calls over standard phones, said Gunjan Bhow, Actiontecs VP of Marketing. By combining the power of Skype with the convenience of the telephone, the Internet Phone Wizard offers new flexibility for consumers who want to use the Internet to reduce their phone bills. The Actiontec Internet Phone Wizard plugs into the users phone and the USB port of his or her PC, allowing it to be used from country to country without worrying about compatibility with different wall sockets. The product supports call waiting as well as Skype speed dialing, and incorporates state-of-the-art echo-cancellation technology for signal clarity. No network configuration, change in firewall or router settings, or external power supply is required. Power is provided by the USB port of the users PC. The Actiontec Internet Phone Wizard comes with USB and RJ-11 telephone cables for connecting the device to the PC and telephone. Minimum system requirements include a Windows 2000/XP PC with a 400 MHz processor, 128 MB RAM, CD-ROM drive and an available USB port, plus a LAN or modem-based Internet connection. Skype also made an announcement today about it celebrating the first anniversary of the launch of its SkypeOut calling service. The company announced it lowered rates in over 20 countries to celebrate the event. Skype also added 6 new countries to the SkypeOut Global Rate (China, Greece, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Poland and Switzerland). Skype dropped the SkypeOut rates for calls to Armenia, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bulgaria, the Cook Islands, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, the Dominican Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Korea, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland (mobile), Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka and Turkey. For new rate info please visit Skype at http://www.skype.com/products/skypeout. The company had to also adjust some regional rate changes and increase its rates a bit for Saudia Arabia, Papua New Guinea, Oman, Lichtenstein and Haiti. Users calling those countries will still be able to call at the current cheaper rate until 9 am (GMT) on September first of this year. Make sure you don't miss Skype CEO & founder Niklas Zennström's keynote session at the upcoming Fall Internet Telephony Conference and EXPO to be held during October 24-27at the Los Angeles Convention Center in California. For more info on this event, please visit http://www.tmcnet.com/itexpo/ca05. Actiontec Electronics, Inc. http://www.actiontec.com Skype Technologies S.A. http://www.skype.com ----- Johanne Torres is contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more articles by Johanne Torres, please visit: http://www.tmcnet.com/tmcnet/columnists/columnist.aspx?id=100006&nm=Johanne% 20Torres ===== [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]