Skype, one of the most popular software used by people to make calls from computer to computer has made yet another advance. It has offered free calls to all the phones including landlines and cell phones from the computers within USA and Canada as long as the calls are made to US and Canadian phones. This is yet another evidence of growing competition among online communication business. While messengers like msn also allow people to talk over the internet, they do not have the capability to allow customers to make free calls to landlines or cell phones. Until recently, Skype used to charge customers for the calls even within USA and Canada. Though the calls have been made free within USA and Canada, standard rates apply for calls made from other countries or calls made to other countries. This is really wonderful, isn't it? A couple of clarifications from the skype: Note that if you haven’t bought any Skype Credit, your Skype client may still tell you something about needing to buy some before you can use SkypeOut. Just disregard that and place your call. It will work fine :) We already had this for toll-free 800 numbers where you could call them for free without actually buying any credit so we know this works. And it works on all platforms where SkypeOut is available, which at this time means Windows, Mac, Linux and Pocket PC.This also works with call forwarding. If you have call forwarded to your US or Canadian phone or cell number and someone calls you from the US or Canada, it gets forwarded to your phone or cell and it costs you nothing. If you get a call from another country, the forwarding costs you the standard calling rate. Note that this is not applicable with SkypeIn — calls received with SkypeIn and then forwarded with SkypeOut cost you the standard rates. So, you can also forward calls? Hmm..it is one of the most wonderful news I have heard in the communication business. I hope other businesses respond by making calls free worldwide. This is how competition benefits the general people. One note, this offer is valid till the end of the year 2006. Buzz your friends for free……….. source: http://dreamnepal.wordpress.com/2006/05/16/skype-introduces-free-calls-to-all-phones-in-us-and-canada