How to be Cheap: Skype for international calls

My parents moved to South Korea years ago, and like a good son (although my wife is the one who really makes sure that I call them), I wanted to be able to talk to them regularly to keep in touch. The best rates I could find from carriers like AT&T or good independent long distance providers like Pioneer were still around 8-10 cents a minute. The rate through my Ooma service (see my Ooma review) is actually really good at 6 cents a minute, but Ooma wasn't available when I needed something years ago.

At first, I was using my PC and Skype to call my parents on their PC, which is of course completely free and voice quality is excellent. But it was a pain to have to fire up a PC and put on a headset, and my parents did not always have their computer on to receive my direct PC-to-PC calls on Skype. Then I found out a few companies were making phones which could make Skype calls directly, meaning they have their own build in Skype client and you don't need a PC at all. I bought the Philips VOIP814 from Amazon and gave it a try, and have been quite happy with it. Voice quality is great, and it literally logs into your Skype account and has a nice list of all your contacts right there for you to you dial. You can even choose between calling someone on their PC (for free) or calling a landline for a whopping 2.1 cents internationally using the Skype Out service. The best part is that it's very easy to use, similar to using a regular phone.

Unfortunately, I think the Philips VOIP814 phone has been discontinued, but I would say that any of the similar PC-less Skype phones out there from respectable brands should work fine. The Skype website has a similar PC-less phone for $99, but I would recommend buying from a retailer with a return policy in case it does not work out for you. You'll obviously have to do the numbers for yourself to determine whether it's worth buying depending on how much you talk and how much other service cost. I've gotten about 3 years of use out of mine, so it has more than paid for itself.