Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Callcentric and Skype - a comparative study

In the world of internet phone service, Callcentric and Skype could be very well considered the toughest competitors. Both have a relatively big customer base and an equally big reputation in the industry. Both offer lots of value added services to their customers and are considered very cheap when compared to traditional international phone calls. Despite these similarities, there are a few things that can be compared between Callcentric and Skype to highlight certain features that separate one from the other.

Callcentric offers four plans that could be considered the cheapest in the market. They are Callcentric IP Freedom Plan, Callcentric Pay per Call, Callcentric North America Unlimited, and Callcentric World Select. All of them offer unlimited PC to PC calls to other Callcentric members for free, wherever in the world they are. IP Freedom Plan is considered the cheapest of them all, as it provides free calls to other members, wherever they are. At no monthly charge, no surcharge, no hidden fees, no per-call rate, and no other commitment, this is considered the best bargain. All you need is an adapter or software and you are good to go with the Callcentric IP Freedom plan.

Skype also has a similar structure, as calls made to any Skype customer are free all over the world. In fact, Skype became extremely popular due to this feature, as free PC to PC calls were something really rare at the time when Skype brought in this feature. So, basically this plan works the same way for Skype and Callcentric. Free PC to phone international call and phone calls from the PC are something everyone looks forward to while using Skype and Callcentric, and this is the area where Callcentric scores over Skype.

Callcentric has plans such as Pay per Call, North America Unlimited, and World Select which offer tremendous value for the money you pay. At a miserly monthly rate around $19.95 per month, you will be able to make unlimited phone calls to the USA and Canada. With this plan, you will be able to make hundreds of calls in a month and still pay an incredibly low $19.95.

In the World Select plan, Callcentric goes a step ahead of its competitors and offer unlimited calls to people all over the world for a monthly rate of $29.95. Thanks to the wide network of Callcentric with over 35 countries across the globe, you can call any of your near and dear ones any number of times for just around $30 a month.

Skype has an offer called Skype Credit which asks you to pay some amount and you also need to pay a connection fee. Once you log in, the credit you have will appear next to your name. Then you can start calling any part of the world. But the catch here is the rate per call. The rates range around 1.7 Euro cents per minute, which is considered costlier than Callcentric, as you can make unlimited calls to any part of the world in case of Callcentric for just under $30 per month. This is where Callcentric scores over Skype and is considered the better option when it comes to PC to phone calling.

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