Kill the Office Land Line

One of the great things about technology is how it can be used to lower operating costs. One of the areas that technology can help lower costs is communication. Everyone knows about using email and cellular telephones, but what about using your computer to make and receive telephone calls? Can you really kill that land line once and for all? Our office has, and it’s working superbly.

You may have heard of the software, Skype. It allows you to make computer to computer telephone calls for free. All you need is the software on your computer and an Internet connection. You might see on company or personal websites a link that says “Skype Me!”. This means you can call this person using Skype totally free. For absolutely zero cost, you can call anyone with Skype installed on their computer.

The benefit of computer to computer calling doesn’t end there however. With a video camera attached to your computer, you can use Skype to make video calls to other Skype users. For long distance work, it helps tremendously with this form of more personal contact. You can also join several people into one call and have a teleconference or video teleconference call. This makes this technology invaluable for business.

In order to kill your land line, though, you’ll need to use what Skype calls SkypeOut and SkypeIn. With SkypeOut, for a low yearly fee you can make unlimited phone calls to any telephone number in the US. Calling other countries is possible too, but with a low per-minute rate. SkypeIn is the opposite as it allows you to receive calls from land and cellular telephones. It also costs a small yearly fee, but you’ll get your own telephone number which you can use as, or forward calls from, your business number. Unfortunately, at this moment in time there are no 207 area code telephone numbers available. That’s changing all the time, but if it’s important for you to have a 207 area code on the caller ID of the people you call, then you’ll just have to wait.

There are other tricks with Skype too. You can do Instant Messaging to other Skype users. You can have teleconferences with other Skype users AND landline and cellular telephone users in the same call. Skype also has telephones specially designed for Skype. They connect to the Internet directly through a wired or wireless network. That’s right; you can make Skype totally free calls without even being at a computer!

What about call quality? We have a good, high-speed Internet connection and the call quality is outstanding. It’s as good as any land line and better than the many VOIP services I’ve tried. I’m sure with a poor Internet connection your call quality will drop. But it doesn’t cost anything to experiment. You can download the software and test it out.

How can we translate this to a real business advantage? First, all of your outgoing calls in the US will only be $36 per year. Add $30 per year for a SkypeIn phone number. If you look at a cost of $20 plus dollars per month for a land line plus long distance charges, you are looking at a savings of at least $174 per year. Additional savings will depend on the amount of outgoing calls you make. Besides saving money, Skype can give you a real advantage by offering your customers the ability to video conference and instant message with you. So, go ahead and give it a try; it doesn’t cost anything to experiment. Heck, I’d be happy to test it with you - so Skype Me!