Skype Gives iPhone Users Free Calling—For Now

After a recent Skype video conference with my 90-year-old grandmother, I realized just how much the internet phone service has become part of how my family keeps in touch.  On a daily basis, I talk to my parents, my brother, and occasionally even my children over Skype video, voice, and chat. And I've used it as a way to have a single phone number that family members can reach me at.

Skype also offers a mobile version of its service as an "app" for Apple's iPhone, Google Android, and Research In Motion's Blackberry.  But until recently, you couldn't make calls from the iPhone using Skype unless you were using a WiFi connection.  That's now changed.

On May 30, the company released a new iPhone app that lets you place free calls to other Skype users over a 3G wireless connection. Unlike a regular phone call, Skype uses the data connection from your phone instead of AT&T's voice service, so you're not using calling minutes when you place a call. Your kids might actually use their phones to talk again.

The "free" part, however is just a trial—Skype plans to start charging for the service at the end of 2010 through a monthly fee for mobile service.  The pricing hasn't been announced yet.

I tested out the service by calling my father on his Skype account, and the call was as clear as a regular cell call from the iPhone, if not more clear.  I haven't figured out whether there's a higher risk of a "dropped" call with Skype over 3G or not yet.

As far as receiving Skype calls goes, you can already forward calls from your Skype account to another phone number.  That's part of the $30-a-year Skype subscription plan I have that gives me the ability to place unlimited phone calls in the US and Canada.

Skype already offers a service on Android and Blackberry called Skype Mobile that allows you to place and receive incoming Skype calls, specifically over Verizon Wireless' 3G networks.  Unlike the current iPhone app, Skype can be "always on" on these phones, so you don't have to have the app running on the screen to receive incoming calls and instant messages.