Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He can't afford his cellphone bill, either.
Update on December 7, 2010: The steps below no longer work. It seems that Skype has changed the way Skype To Go works:
With Skype’s new system, does anyone know if you can make unlimited outbound calls to an unlimited number of contacts in the US and Canada? Please comment below if you have any ideas.
It’s a tragic irony that Canada — the country that gave us the telephone and the BlackBerry — is notorious for having among the world’s worst mobile-phone rates! You do not have to put up with it any longer!
This article’s title is not a joke: You can get unlimited-outbound minutes and unlimited-long-distance minutes on your cellphone in Canada for $2.99 a month.
Alex Frakking explained how to get free outbound and inbound calls. Follow the steps below to make it even simpler.
5 easy steps to unlimited-outbound-daytime minutes and unlimited long distance
- Get a Skype To Go phone number. (Choose a number in your local area code.)
- Buy a few dollars of Skype Credit to get started, or buy Skype’s Unlimited US & Canada plan for $2.99 per month.
- Phone your mobile carrier’s customer service department. If you don’t already have it, ask the customer service representative to give you either Rogers’ MY5 plan, Bell’s Fab Five plan, or any plan that allows you to make unlimited calls to one or more phone numbers. Add your Skype To Go number to your MY5 (or similar) plan.
- Install a calling card dialing application (CCDA) on your mobile phone. I use BlackBerry EasyDialer. The EasyDialer software license costs a one-time-payment of $9.99. (Without a CCDA it is inconvenient to make calls with Skype to Go. I recommend EasyDialer or your preferred CCDA.)
- Setup your CCDA to make calls to your Skype To Go number. If you use EasyDialer, make your “Calling Card Details” screen look like this (and use your Skype To Go number as the “Service Number”):
Setup your BlackBerry EasyDialer screen (as pictured here) to have EasyDialer make calls with your Skype To Go number.
Make calls with Skype To Go using your Calling Card Dialing Application
To call a number from your mobile’s address book: Select the contact, and then call the contact’s number using your CCDA — E.g., using EasyDialer:
- Go to the address book.
- Search for your contact.
- Press the BlackBerry menu button.
- Select “Call with EasyDialer.”
This calls the contact using Skype To Go: First, EasyDialer calls your Skype To Go number. Second, once connected to Skype To Go, EasyDialer automatically calls your contact’s number. Your contact will see that the call is coming from your mobile number, not your Skype To Go number.)
To call a number not in your address book: Go to your mobile’s phone screen; type the number; instead of pressing the “call” button, make the call with your CCDA — E.g., using EasyDialer:
- Go the phone application.
- Type the number.
- Press the menu button.
- Select “Call with EasyDialer.”
You will still be billed for incoming calls
Calls to your mobile number during the “daytime” (weekdays from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. for Rogers’ plans) use your mobile plan’s limited daytime minutes. Once you exceed your limit, we all know our carriers charge us (a lot!).
You charged me 15 f***ing cents for every MINUTE over my daytime minutes!
To prevent calls to your mobile number from exceeding your plan’s daytime minutes, try these tips:
- If someone calls you during your daytime minutes, ask if you can call them back (using Skype To Go).
- Take incoming calls outside the daytime minutes period. (For $7 a month, Rogers offers “Early Evenings” beginning at 6 p.m. rather than the regular 9 p.m.)
- If you frequently receive incoming calls from a particular person during your daytime minutes, then add that person’s number to your Rogers MY5 or your Bell Fab Five plan. Then you can enjoy unlimited incoming calls from that number.
I started using Skype To Go two months ago (with Rogers as my carrier). I’ve drastically reduced my cellphone bill while enjoying unlimited-outbound-daytime calling and unlimited long-distance calling in the US and Canada! It works for me and Alex; it will work for you, too.
{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
Thank you so very much for your illustrations Kevin. You and Alex are the best!!
Audrey, we’re glad to help! Thank you for commenting.
The Skype to go number will provide you with unlimited outbound calling if you follow the suggestions above. I know it works very well for me. However, using the FreePhoneLine follow-me service will not give you unlimited incoming calls, because the caller ID will display the number of the person originating the call. For instance, your freephoneline account is setup to forward all calls to your cell phone. Your friend, Joe is calling you from 416-223-4546 on your freephoneline number. When his call gets forwarded to your cell phone, Joe’s 416-223-4546 phone number is displayed as a caller ID and not your freephoneline number. If Joe is not on your FAV5 list and you answered that call, you can say goodbye to those minutes.
Allie: You are right. The only way to get unlimited incoming minutes is if the caller’s number is in your MY5 (or similar) plan.
I love you guys! Awesome idea, and so simple to implement.
A reader emailed me this question: “My girlfriend lives in Waterloo (519 area code) and I’m in Toronto (647). I set up a freephoneline number in the 519 area code. If she calls that number and it gets rerouted to my cell phone with the follow me service, does it count as a local number when I pick up?”
I don’t think it would count as a local call. But if you both use Skype to Go, then either of you can call the other by first calling your Skype to Go number. Then you can have unlimited long-distance calls to each other.
Just remember that the cell phone of the person receiving the call will still incur daytime minutes. To prevent that, you can both add each other’s mobile numbers as one of your Rogers MY5 or Bell Fab Five numbers.
Hi – great info here.
I have a bit of a curly question. I live in Australia and my daughter is working in Banff. She has a Pay as you go Rogers account on her Iphone (voice only, no data but has wireless at home & work). It is very expensive for her to receive calls from us. If we call her cell from our skype account, what will she be charged? Can Rogers recognise the call as being international?
Any help on the cheapest way (other than of course Skype to Skype which needs to be set up plus her wireless isn’t that great) for us to call her?
Hello Julie,
For $14 a month, your daughter can use Skype’s Unlimited World plan to make unlimited calls to you.
Or maybe it’s more affordable for her to use a calling card or Skype to Go credit to call you in Australia?
If it’s too costly for her to receive incoming calls from you, then maybe it’s best if you text her mobile when you want her to call you?
Like you mentioned, talking over Skype on each of your computers is an option, though it’s just not mobile.
Julie, please let me know if any of these ideas work for you… mate?
@Kevin Kane
Hi Kevin
Thanks fo your very quick response. We do have Skype Credit, but the issue is her wireless isn’t the fastest and I want to use skype on my iphone or computer in Australia to phone her Canadian mobile/cell directly. I haven’t been able to find out what Rogers charges either in money or airtime to receive a skype call. Does Roger recognise the call as an international call? There isn’t a number associated with our account.
I’ve been looking at Skype to Go and it seems to suggest I can set up a local skype number from the Banff area code. Do you have to live there or can I get the number for calling my daughter?
Julie, I don’t know what you mean when you say “her wireless isn’t the fastest.” Are you referring to her internet connection — for using Skype from her computer to your computer?
You might want to call Rogers (or have your daughter call Rogers) and ask them if she is charged for receiving a call from either Skype or from Australia.
You can choose a Skype To Go number from any area code you want. You don’t have to live there. But I’m not sure that choosing a Banff code will help you, because then you’d be making a long-distance call each time you dial from Australia to your Banff Skype to Go number.
We use the term ‘wireless” for wireless internet, not mobile so that’s the confusion. I use wireless internet to make skype calls from my iphone and my mobile service to make mobile calls.
Hopefully her plan allows her to set up the steps you have outlined above. The big difference between Australia and North America is that we do not pay to receive calls.
The other big difference is that you guys have funny accents. Just kidding.
Julie, good luck with this, and please let me know what you find to be your best solution.
Love the post – I’m in Calgary.
Trying to wrap my head around this all weekend.
Unless I’m missing something, this is just a way to get unlimited calls to one of the nine contacts that you can create Skypetogo numbers for, correct? However I read the title of this article to imply free calling to anyone/anywhere (more importantly Canada).
If I’m mistaken then i’m confused about the part when i set up a skypetogo number, where it requires that i enter a name and a phone number for the contact info of the new skypetogo number. If this intent is to get access to call anyone/anywhere, who’s number do i use then for me to call out to on easydialer….if i enter mine, it forwards naturally to my cell phone.
Any help would be appreciated.
Cheers.
Hi Mike,
Let me try to answer your questions:
Mike, let me know if this helps. If it doesn’t, please email me your phone number and I’ll call you so we can figure it out. Thanks.
Im having similar issues or should say I have similar question.
I followed some instructions on another site, that said to get skype to go and a us/canada unlimited plan.
It said it would assign me a local access number.
my goal is to have a number i can call from my cell phone on rogers my5 and then call the desired number after.
so far what I am able to do is add in 9 numbers I would like to call and skype gives me a local number to call and forwards my call to these numbers.
If i want to call a number not in thje list i have to log into my skype account and add a new number in.
Its asking me to verify my number for Caller identification. I dont know if doing this will allow me furthur benifits but thier asking for a skype top up of credits to charge me for this service.
Ive been looking all over skypes site to see if theres another option to have an access number that I can call any number after but cant find it.
Thanks in advance.
@curtis Hi Curtis,
I spoke with Mike and it seems that Skype has changed how Skype To Go works.
Please see my new comments in red at the top of this article.
If I find a solution, I’ll edit the article and add a comment here.
Best wishes.
Hi Thanks.
spent half of today trying to figure it out.
It crossed my mind they changed and put a limitation on it.
not a good thing but at least we have the info.
Thanks for clearing that up for me.
Thanks again for your time the other day Kevin. Very courteous of you to contact me on your own free time. As we figured this plan doesn’t seem to be working anymore though it appears that people who followed your advice previously may be grandfathered in for the service.
I’ll keep you posted if I find anything – I’m still looking. Cheers.
@Mike Mike, my old Skype number doesn’t seem to be working now, either!
I’ll look for a new solution, too.
Thanks for keeping in touch.
Hi Kevin.
I need to buy a cell phone and use your approach. May l know if l have to suscribe to a provider first and chose a plan before l can use your suggested approach. Please l need your guide.
Francis
Hi Francis,
Unfortunately this doesn’t work anymore.
But I’m investigating another approach that might work similarly to the one above.
If it works, I’ll provide an update here, and I’ll email you to let you know about it.
I’m looking for a solution that works with any carrier. So go ahead and choose whichever carrier you like.
Talk soon,
Kevin
You could still use the Fab 5 with skype to go, but you will have to actively manage the contacts through the Skype website. Not as slick as the way it used to work, but it is something. I skype installed on my ipod touch as well, so that allows me to make calls via wi-fi when available.
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