Do you
use Skype for communicating with learners?
Are you planning to get a SkypeIn number, so they can contact you on skype?
Wait!
don’t buy yet, because there is an alternative and a free one.
Ring2Skype
is a free service
that allows users to receive calls on Skype from landline and other phone
networks free of charge. As you might be aware, that SkypeIn offers the same
service but you need to buy the numbers.Ring2Skype on the other hand, is free. That’s not all...
While SkypeIn is available in
only 20 countries, Ring2Skype
is available in 40.
When users
sign up for Ring2Skype they receive
an online number along with an extension. All calls to this number are routed
to your Skype ID, which lets you answer calls from Skype no matter where you
are on the world. The caller doesn’t even need to have a Skype ID to call you.
Users can
have as many online numbers as they want and they can have them in different
countries. On a personal note, this can be pretty useful at times. Suppose they
have a son living in San Francisco and they live in the UK and their son wants
to call them but he doesn’t use Skype. They can register a new Ring2Skype
number in San Francisco and ask their son to call that number. Calling a local
number in USA would be cheaper for their son than calling the UK number. As for
them, they would receive the call in their Skype no matter which number he
calls. It’s win-win for both parties.
I'm an eLearning Adviser specializing in stimulating and supporting innovation in learning via eBooks, eMagazines, blogs (including audio versions), online TV, interactive resources, forums, workshops, conferences and face2face consultations. Evaluating and becoming familiar with sustainable and new technologies allows me to respond to the needs of learning providers from a position of experience rather than 'hearsay'. Supported learning providers, in the northwest of England (UK), can contact me for FREE consultations. Based at Lancaster University I work for the JISC Regional Support Centre - Northwest.