Despite having been impressed with the voice quality and connectivity of Google Talk, I will still remain a loyal Skype user. The ability to receive and make phone calls from normal phones (landline) is keeping me from transferring my loyalties to Google Talk.
And now, Skype has proven itself worthy of my loyalty even more.
E-Plus, my (German) mobile phone provider, and Skype have signed a deal that will allow E-Plus users (from October on) to gain both a high bandwidth Internet connection and free Skype call over E-Plus’ mobile network.
“E-Plus is the first mobile operator to partner with Skype, taking the first step to deliver Skype’s vision of making Skype available over any network, including 3G. Now anyone with an E-Plus data flat-rate subscription will be able to enjoy the benefits of Skype’s personal communications service when they are on the move in Germany”, said Niklas Zennström, Skype chief executive and co-founder. We look forward to working with other innovative mobile operators around the world to bring the value and convenience of the Skype global Internet communications experience to their millions of mobile phone subscribers.’
Source: Netzeitung
The flat-rate data subscription is available in Germany for 39.95 euros per month. Skype will be the only company offering calls over the Internet.
Anyone want to try this feature with me in October? You can Skype me (let’s pretend that it’s also a verb) at janpatrick2003.
Note that I am aware that Google Talk is still in Beta and that it is unfair to compare it against Skype, a full-featured program.