Using Skype with iPhone

Question

I have recently been corresponding with website developers (India, China, etc) from within chat. Many have a skype account but don't always give a number. The closest thing for Skype that I have found for the iPhone is something called Fring which has a Skype add-on. I have added $10 of funding to the Skype account and chosen pay-as-you-go. Am I going down the right path with Fring? What is the best way to do this kind of calling from the new iPhone? How can I call a Skyper without a number using the iPhone?

Answer 1

The 10 dollars you added to skype allows you to use your skype account to call land lines (and cell phones in some countries).
You don't need to fund skype at all for Skype to Skype (computer to computer) calls.
You don't need Skype at all for Fring to Fring calls, but far more people are familiar with Skype than Fring. You do need to be on WiFi.
So if your associates in other countries will give you their skype name you can add them to your buddy list on Skype (this is easier on the computer), and use these contacts on fring.
Note that Fring needs your skype account ID and Password. This is stored somewhere (its not clear if its only kept on your phone). It is used to patch between Fring and Skype.
I'm not sure that Fring has the infrastructure to handle tons of calls. The call quality is not always that great on Fring+Skype.
The best thing would be a native Skype App for the iPhone, but I doubt the carriers would appreciate this and they might lobby Apple not to allow it. Better yet would be a native Skype client that could use 3G. But I suspect the carriers would be even more unhappy about this.