Skype currently is limited to a few countries for SkypeIn numbers. So what if you want local dial access in a country NOT supported by Skype? Well, Jetnumbers.com claims to have the answer. They wrote TMC to say, "JetNumbers.com has just launched a new usage for its call forwarding service. After months of development, we can now provide our clients with VIRTUAL TO SKYPE plans. Now, any virtual phone number from Jetnumbers can be forwarded to any Skype account instead of being forwarded to a regular landline or mobile phone."I'm not exactly sure how this works, since your SkypeIn software client only accepts calls coming into your paid SkypeIn phone number. For example sake, let's say your SkypeIn phone number is 203-555-1234. It would appear Jetnumbers must do call forwarding (mapping) between a registered Jetnumber phone number, say 212-555-5555 and your "paid" SkypeIn number (203-555-1234). So when you dial 212-555-5555 (Jetnumber) it forwards the call to your "real" SkypeIn number of 203-555-1234. I guess there are some uses to that (local dial access), but you still have to pay for your SkypeIn number. The way the email was written to me it made it sound like you could bypass paying for a SkypeIn number all together. I guess the value is the ability to have local phone number presence in multiple countries. Businesses, especially entrepreneurs might find that useful.
Mapping phone numbers to Skype usernames would be a cool feature as well. Though when you pay for SkypeIn, you get unlimited SkypeIn calling, so it's not like you save SkypeIn credits. Further, Jetnumbers obviously tacks on their service fees for forwarding the call. So you really must need & want virtual phone numbers to use this service.
Jetnumbers claims to support over 40 countries, including Spain, Israel and Russia. The beta is free for top bloggers if you're interested. I'm a tad busy to try myself, so if you do, let me know how it goes.
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great idea! I believe you don't have to pay for the Skypein number, but you need to be a Skype user to be able to use this service.
This may help lots of Skype users that need the service in more countries than are currently offered.
I will get a try and let you know...
Mark is right. No SkypeIn number is needed, the service is a SkypeIn replacement.
i prefer mobivox )
i've tried mobivox and ended up paying fees like any other site. Make sense if the other person has mobivox too, otherwise is worthless
The author's analysis of the service is completely wrong. I'll give the author the benefit of the doubt and pretend that jetnumbers website was unclear at the time of writing (it is pretty crystal clear presently), but an update should be made as t his blog hits close to the top on searches regarding jetnumbers and skype.
The author is soooo wrong...I just registered for a free Skype-in number with Jetnumbers. As in most of the cases when we're talking about Voip, I'm paying nothing. 0. It's free. Well, the catch: it's a number + extension.
Also: I've never ever paid anything to Mobivox. Mobivox works perfectly fine and free for calls from my cell phone to my Skype contacts (we're talking about calls lasting a few hours here).
For people who need to call-out a PSTN phone number obviously Mobivox is not the solution neither is Jetnumbers. For that you would need a free SIP provider set up together with a free DID or you need to set up your own free Callback service which is what I am doing now.
Anyways, the author shouldn't write articles about something he has never tried himself (to get a Jetnumbers free Skype number you need to register and wait for a token to be sent to you, it took about 12 hours in my case).