Understanding SkypeIn

With SkypeIn, people in a given region or country can call you by dialing into a local phone number that you set up through Skype. It is just a local call for them, but they can reach you anytime and anywhere in the world you are, as long as you are logged onto Skype. When you get SkypeIn, you also get free Skype Voicemail, so if you’re not connected to Skype when people try to reach you, you can receive messages.
When people call you using SkypeIn, they don’t pay for anything other than the normal charges for calling your local SkypeIn number. If you set up a SkypeIn number that is based in London (with an area code of 207 and country code +44), anyone in London can dial the local number you give them. They pay only the cost of a local call. You can then be anywhere in the world — Madrid, Paris, Nashville, and so on. Anyone can call you from a regular telephone and can talk for hours, and all the caller pays is the cost of the local call in the London. The telephone companies are happy because they get to charge for a call. Skype is happy because you just rented a SkypeIn number for the year. Your caller is happy to talk as long as he or she wants, very inexpensively. Now if your friend Ian from Edinburgh, Scotland, tries to reach you using your SkypeIn number based in London, he pays whatever it costs to place a call from Edinburgh to London. The cost from Edinburgh to London is not a local call, but if you are currently visiting Melbourne, Australia, it’s certainly much less expensive than calling to Australia.
It’s really that simple.
SkypeIn phone numbers can be acquired for Australia, Brazil, China, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong S.A.R., Japan, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and United States. This list of countries is expanding, as are individual area codes with the countries, so check www. skype.com from time to time for updates.