Use Skype as a phone to call and receive

Most people know that you can use Skype to make free calls to other Skype users. What many forget is that it is possible use Skype to call regular phones as welleven by people who have no idea what Skype is.

In the following guide we will show you in detail how to use skype as a national and international landline phoneso you can call and receive from other landline numbers or from mobile phones, swithout any need for a SIM on your smartphone or a telephone connection in your home or office.

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1) What it means to use Skype as a phone

To use Skype instead of a landline phone we have two ways: buy skype creditideal if you think that Skype will be used rarely and only in certain circumstances (only when travelling, for example) or with subscription to make unlimited calls to anyone, in a given country, for one monthly payment.

The only requirement is to have a computer with a microphone or a tablet, an iPad or a smartphone of any type, Android, iPhone or others, perhaps even recycling an old phone that we no longer use.

2) How to use Skype as a phone

To use Skype, you need to register an account on the site Skype.com; If you have a Windows or Outlook account then you can access Skype using your Microsoft account login and password.

To use Skype is possible use the Windows app or program or even theapp Skypefree, for Android o iPhone.

Once the app is installed, start it and log in with our Microsoft account; from now on the app will always remain “listening” on our phone and, if we receive a call or a video call when we are under data or Wi-Fi network coverage, we will be able to answer directly from it without necessarily having to start a computer.

3) How to make calls on Skype

After logging into the Skype app we can pay for a subscription so you can make calls to all phones, including cell phones. The only calls that cannot be made with Skype are toll-free numbers and emergency numbers.

Skype offers several ways to purchase the credit needed to make calls:

• Skype Credit: we can buy credit according to consumption for short calls to landline and mobile phones, with prices starting from €5 (for 190 minutes) up to €25 (for 960 minutes).
• Italy subscription: alternatively we can activate the Italy subscription, to call all Italian landline and mobile numbers for up to 400 minutes, at a fixed price starting from €6.63 per month (and 2 cents per minute).
• Unlimited Italy subscription: identical to the previous plan but with unlimited minutes, with a price starting from €12.24 per month.
• Europe without limits: if we want to call landlines and mobiles in the European Union we can subscribe to this subscription, valid for 25 destinations and available from €33.66 per month.
• Limitless world: the complete subscription, which allows you to call over 63 destinations in the world from €13.26 a month.

Subscriptions for abroad are not bad at all, especially if we often make calls abroad outside the European Union; in any case the prices are indicative, given that we can receive the real price only when subscribing to the chosen subscription.

For the Italy season ticket it is possible to take advantage of one one month free trialso as to be able to test the effective functioning of the calls in the field.

4) How to receive calls on Skype

To use Skype and transform your computer or tablet or a VOIP device into a real telephone it would be good too receive phone calls and then get a phone number from skype to receive calls. Yes they can Receive free Skype calls from other Skype users who can initiate calls or video calls by adding our identification name to the contact list.

If you want to be called from landline or mobile phones, simply activate Skype numberwhich allows you to receive a new phone number associated with your Skype account, so you can quickly receive calls from abroad without having to switch from mobile phone operators.

Unfortunately this service does not provide Italian telephone numbersbut nothing prevents us from creating a new foreign number (for example from Switzerland) and receiving calls there, especially if we have business or a business in the countries supported by Skype.

For each Skype account we can have up to 10 Skype numbers: This makes the service an ideal choice if we regularly receive calls from different countries where we do business. We can choose a different Skype Number for each country or area code from which we regularly receive calls.

To learn more we can read our guides on how Get a Skype phone number to call yourself on your PC and about how register a free Italian landline number to have yourself called at home or on your mobile.

Activate call forwarding

As mentioned in the introduction we can stay always reachable on Skype activating call forwarding: our contacts will be able to call us for free while we, if we have a Skype subscription or credit to spend, will pay for forwarding to our number as if we were making a call, with standard rates. The advantage is to never miss the calls received via Skypethus obtaining the possibility of receive calls from anyone without giving them our numberbut simply by adding it as a contact to our Skype account.

To activate automatic call forwarding from Skype to your mobile number (or even on a fixed number) we open theapp Skype on the smartphone, press down on the menu Callspress the numeric keypad icon, tap the gear key to open the settingswe press on Call forwarding and voicemailwe activate the switch and choose to forward Skype calls to the assigned mobile phone number.

We can also set a waiting time before starting the forwarding, so you can always reply via the Skype app without having to pay (6 seconds is fine).

Dal PCyou can open the settings by going to skype sitewhere you can press the key with three dots to open the Settings > Callswhere you will find the switch that activates call diversion or forwarding.

In Call forwarding optionsyou need to check the box “Forward my calls to” and then write, in the text box, the phone number to which Skype calls are to be diverted. Among the options it is also possible to forward calls to another Skype account or to voicemail, to listen to messages left by those who are not there online.

5) How to use Skype with Alexa

Among the most important functions we also find the possibility of Skype calls using an Amazon Echo and Alexa. In the Settings of the Alexa app on Android or iPhone, open the Communication section to add the Skype account; you can make calls with Skype and Alexa by saying phrases like Alexa, Call Mom with Skype or similar ads.

If you install theAlexa app on your smartphoneit is possible, in the Settingsunder Communication, add your Skype account. Once you connect Skype to Alexa, you can not only make Skype calls, but also receive calls from other users using Echo or Alexa devices (subject to Skype rates).

Still on calls via Alexa we can read our guide on how to make free calls with Alexa.

Conclusions

If you are going to make calls with skype and receive calls (those from Skype users are always free and possible from all over the world) and you don’t want to keep your computer or tablet on all day, you can buy an Android phone to dedicate to Skypeso you can use your internet connection to call all over the world at affordable rates.

Skype isn’t the only alternative for making phone calls from your computer, as we’ve seen in our how-to guides make free VOIP calls from the internet, from PC to phone come on how to make Whatsapp calls and video calls from PC.