I am getting myself confused and Skype's website doesn't have a number you can call to ask dumb questions.

I signed up for a plan to be able to call Italy. I used it successfully to call and reserve tickets for Colosseum tickets and tours. Worked great.

I am now getting ready to head to Italy. The plan Is signed up for is for both land a mobile lines. As I understand it I will be able to use my phone [I am from US] to make calls <b>via wifi </b> to phone numbers in ITALY.

I would also like to be able to use Skype to call home here in US. I tried yesterday as a test and it said the call could not connect because I had no credit.

I do in fact have 60 minutes credit, but I am guessing that the credit is only for calls to Italian #s. ????

SO - in order to use my phone to call the US when I am IN Italy, I need to also buy a US plan? IS that correct?

[When I tried to call yesterday, I did put the phone in Airplane mode and enabled the wifi.]

Like I said, I am sure this is a dumb question and I am making this more difficult than need be.

Thanks~

Did you sign up for a plan that specifically said it was only for Italy? I didn't even know they had those... I have had a Skype account for years, with pay-as-you-go credit that I can use anywhere (with wi-fi) to call anywhere.

This is what it says on the website:

Pay as you go with Skype Credit

Call who you want, when you want…

Add credit and use it when you need it.
Call mobiles and landlines worldwide.
Send text messages and use WiFi hotspots.
Your credit never expires3 so there’s plenty of time to talk.

You might try asking this on the Skype Community forums.

You can just add some credit (cash) to your Skype account and pay for calls to the US as you go. That's what I would have done for the calls to Italy, because unless you're making a lot of calls, the subscription plans will cost more. Calls to the US cost about 3 cents a minute the last I checked, no matter where you're calling from, so just make an estimate of how many minutes you would need and add that much money. You can always add more money if you run low.

I have a subscription plan for calls to the US because I call there a lot. For other countries, I just use the pay-as-you-go option.

The Skype website is one of the more opaque that I've run across.

It costs less to sign up for a single country. I got 60 minutes in Italy for $2.09 [land and mobile] which I figured would be more than enough for the amount of calls we need to make [apartment owner, a restaurant perhaps etc].

The plan I see for US calls is $2.99 a month for unlimited calls to land and mobile.

The least amount of non-expiring credit is $10 per month for US calls and $13.99 for world calls. The per minute rate is less using the non-expiring credits but I won't need to use much more time than what the 2 Country plans offer.

Whether it "costs" less or not depends on your usage model. Your approach makes sense if you are investing for just one occasion usage. The picture would be different if you are interested in long term expanded usages. If you want to visit France next year, with your strategy, you would have to buy yet another country specific bucket. Then next year to Germany,etc. You will be forfeiting partially used buckets.

I funded my Skype with €10. That was 5 years ago! I still have credit left over to call any Skype supported countries.

A resource that can be deployed for many purposes might cost more using a single purpose metric. But as a whole, ability to redeploy inventoried resources elsewhere often come out ahead as a whole.

DebitNM - I downloaded the MagicJack app which let me call any North American number at no cost while I was in Italy. I have also used it to call the US from Canada. The connection is better if you register (I used my spam account), but it's not necessary to use the app.

"The least amount of non-expiring credit is $10 per month for US calls and $13.99 for world calls."

There seems to be a contradiction here. If the credit is non-expiring, it wouldn't be per month. The Skype credit I have is open-ended. I could use it years from now. A call from here (Italy) to the US is even less than I thought. It's €0.017 cents a minute. That means that for €10 I could get 588 minutes of calls, to anywhere in the world, for as long as it takes to use it up. Well, maybe not anywhere, because, for example in Europe, calls to cell phones cost considerably more than calls to land lines, and some countries in the world have higher rates (although some also have lower rates.

I can't access the US version of the Skype web site, but what you would want to do is "purchase credit" or something like that. You don't have to specify where it's for.

However, if you prefer to purchase monthly bundles to different countries, that's up to you. It seems penny wise, pound foolish to me.

I think I mistyped. The $10 is skype credit that doesn't expire, as far as I can tell. The $13.99 is unlimited, monthly world calling - land and mobile in certain countries and land only in most countries.

I have a US phone number (pay for it) on my Skype account - for receiving calls only. It's $18 for 3 months or $60/year. I also have bought credit $10 at a time to make per-minute calls while overseas back to the US - still have about $2 left from a couple of years ago! (You have to use it occasionally or it expires - make one call every 6 months or something.) Lately I have used Google Voice/Gmail with my VPN to make free calls back to the US without Skype.

I'd guess you too have to buy credit too to make per-minute calls back to the US - or buy some other unlimited plan, if you would make enough calls to make it worthwhile.

Any chance you have T-Mobile? Their most recent Simple Choice plan offers international calling for 20 cents/minute back to the US - and if your phone supports WiFi calling, FREE calls back to the US if you use WiFi instead of cell networks! Plus free data roaming while overseas (some countries). I forget how much it is to call from Europe to Europe - maybe I'll use that a few times on my next trip. I will have an unlocked phone with me again but it may not be worth buying a local SIM this time.

Andrew- I had thought about switching to T Mobile as the no contract, unlimited text, calls and data is most appealing at $50 a month. And the ability to use the phone in Europe really enticed, but sadly, we don't get T Mobile service at home and since that is where I use my phone the majority of time, I won't be switching.

This year we will be in Italy for 2 weeks and perhaps back to France for another couple of weeks. I will use my Lebara SIM card for France. For me, the approximate $7 I will spend on this trip will give me the minutes I need.

One of the reasons for WiFi calling is to handle cases where your mobile reception is poor or non-existent. I just got my Android (I really don't want to switch to a smart phone believe it or not) and am still learning, but I've made a few WiFi calls at home (even though my mobile reception is OK). Could be you could use T-Mobile to make calls at home with WiFi calling if you have a solid internet connection. Then again, if your internet goes down - no 911, no calls. Perhaps T-Mobile + a cheap prepaid phone that uses Verizon's network for emergencies would still be more cost-effective, overall?

Home = the entire geographic area I live in and the immediate surrounds of NM and CO, not my house per se.

>>>Then again, if your internet goes down - no 911, no calls.<<<

It will still be able to call 911 in most cases as it will roam to other providers for the 911 call.

That assumes there's GSM coverage (e.g. AT&T) nearby. I don't think a GSM phone can roam to CDMA (Verizon or Sprint). It's like an FM radio being technically unable to pick up AM signals.

In any case, it's a moot point, because Deb wants to use her phone in regions that may not have T-Mobile coverage, not just one physical location.

I didn't read all the responses above, but just wanted to chime in to say that I only have the freebie Skype account, and I've been skyping to the USA from Italy for the past week from a kindle fire. Works great, and can't beat the price.

If you'd read the responses, you'd know she is trying to use Skype to make phone calls in Italy, not use the free service to call computer to computer.

"The $10 is skype credit that doesn't expire, as far as I can tell. The $13.99 is unlimited, monthly world calling ..".

Between these two choices, the $13.99 would be cost-effective only for people who make a *lot* of calls - people who call for business. The $10 open-ended credit is also good for the whole world, and, if you stick to land lines in countries where cell calls cost a lot more, you'd get almost 10 hours worth of calls for the $10.

I was just pointing out another option in case Debit - or anyone else reading this thread - may want to Skype from a device other than a cell phone or a computer. But rag away, Andrew!

Thank God for Skype phone! When we got to Italy several years ago and found our phones not working- we were able to use the free wifi at a cafe in Venice to use Skype to call AT&T to find out what the issue was. Got fixed quick.

I bought my $10 credit three years ago. We used it in Italy every day for my traveling companion to call her family back in US. Then, last year, I used it several times to call my daughter, because she has a really lousy internet connection at home, and regular Skype just kept going out when I was trying to Skype her. So we used my Skype phone account to just talk. I still have $8 on that account!

Buon viaggio, Debit! I'm off on 4/11 myself! Save some wine for me!