Skype on Axim X51v

[Individual]

I am wondering if it's possible to use my Axim X51v to call normal phones with skype over the internet. I am really interested in this so could somebody who is smart tell me if this is possible and how good it is. Thankyou

[Box]

Yes you can, I use it all the time.
It works best if you have some ear buds.
You need to have Skype Out which costs a little bit, but it has saved me thousands on international calls.
I've found the Ax gives me a very good quality call, depending of course on the speed of your internet connection.

[Individual]

do you pay a monthly fee to call phones? or how does the payment thing work?

[Box]

You create an account and you can add money to it as you need or you can set it to auto top up from your bank or credit card.
I pay in 20 bucks or so every few months, never had any problems with it.
Cut my phone bill from 500 euro a month down to about 10 euro.
Even my 80 year old mother uses it.

[Individual]

lol thats awsome. so can people with regular phones call your skype? do you have some kindof phone number or sumthing?

[Box]

Depending on where you call the cost varies.
Generally for me it costs about 2 cents a minute to call from germany or finland to anywhere else in europe or australia or even my brother in hongkong.
Mobile phones are more expensive.
You can get a skype in number for most countries.
For example, my mother in australia can use her normal land line to dial a local number that will find my computer anywhere in the world. I can place a divert on my skype account to call my current local number, either land line or mobile.
My mother pays for a local call and I pay the the skype call of about 2 cents a minute or higher if I have diverted it to my mobile.
All skype to skype calls are free.

[Individual]

oh ok thanks, i tried getting a skype number in canada but there are no area codes for canada. do you have any idea what i should do?

[Box]

Sorry, I'm actually in a Pub at the moment so I can't really look at the skype site properly, I'll have a look in a few hours and see if I can point you in the right direction.

[Box]

First, please stop hitting the thanks button, once was more than enough.

Having now had a look around the Skype site, it looks like you are out of luck for the Skype in number, they don't have it for Canada yet.

I'm sure they will add it in the future.

But you can still use it to call out cheaply.

Another useful one for long distance calls is jajah.com

This one uses your existing landline to call.
You place the call using your computer but your phone rings and then connects you to the number you want.
Also very cheap.