Unlimited voice calls via Skype Mobile, free of charge!

Even if today’s mobile network operators  throw lots on minutes in your face, SMS’s and internet traffic, not everyone can afford their services. And when it comes to international calling and roaming internet access, few are those who have no worries for their future bill.  Well, Good News!  There are other alternatives.  For example, the SkypeMobile gives you voice calls free of the network operator and their roaming costs. This app requires only a Wi-Fi connection and it gives you unlimited and free calls.

Of course, if you have a mobile data connection, you can use the old fashioned way, but today we’ll be turning our attention to free of costs. To do so, you’ll need three things:

•  Smartphone with  Symbian / Android / iOS / BlackBerry OS;
•  Wi-Fi connection;
•   The Skype app installed on your phone;

We’ve tested the Skype app on a smartphone  with Symbian. The principle is similar on the other platforms(Android, iOS, BlackBerry OS): access the app store(Ovi Store, Android Market, App Store), search and download the app, install Skype Mobile. If you do not have a Skype account, you will have to create one(we suggest you do this from a PC, it’s much faster). If you already have an account, just log in with your username and password.

To begin a conversation, you have make sure  that the person who you want to call has a Skype account(the good thing is that it does not have to be from the same platform as yours). Than, all you have to do is to add your friends to the contacts list and to be sure the Wi-Fi function on your phone is turned on and you are connected to a Wi-Fi network, otherwise, you might connect through 3G/HSDPA which will have an impact on your bill and maybe most important, the poor quality of the service, being dependent on a telephone signal. This is the reason why we strongly recommend Wi-Fi voice calls.

We also tested the app on Android, and surprise! We found out that the Wi-Fi call is slightly better than the old voice call. In tests we noticed that the call receiver heard more clearly that later in the call, but that is most likely because of the Wi-Fi hot-spot signal. On the other hand, in trying the 3G calls, we were disappointed to notice that very few of the calls we made even got to the end, in most cases it just stopped working.

As a bonus to using Skype Mobile, you can IM your friends just like most IM clients (MSN, Yahoo! Messenger) .

Skype also offers an option which can call directly on phone numbers, but the service requires a premium account.

If you are interested in other free call apps, you can also use Fring and Yahoo!Mobile. 
If you are using a PC, the list goes further and further.