Which plan is what I need and nothing more?

Question

I want to use skype to make calls to land line/mobile numbers in the United States of America. Id like to be able receive calls as well. I don't really care about text msgs as that can be handled in other programs, but if its cheap ill do that thru skype as well.
Should I get a plan? If so which gets me what I need and nothing more?
Should I get credit?

Answer 1

sbroscious wrote:
I want to use skype to make calls to land line/mobile numbers in the United States of America. Id like to be able receive calls as well. I don't really care about text msgs as that can be handled in other programs, but if its cheap ill do that thru skype as well.
Should I get a plan? If so which gets me what I need and nothing more?
Should I get credit?
First thing.... sign up for the Unlimited USA & Canada subscription.  You can get it for US$ 2.99/month, or a year at a time with a 15% discount.  Once you have the subscription, you can purchase an Online Number in the USA.  There are numbers available in most US states and area codes.  The numbers cost US$ 18/3 months or US$ 60/year, but you get a 50% discount on the online number if you already have a subscription. 
With this, you essentially get a Skype account that can receive calls with a US telephone number, and make unlimited calls (subject to Skype's fair-use policy) to landline and mobile phones in the USA and Canada, for around US$ 60/year - or about US$ 5/month.  If you have any need to send SMS messages, you can do that using Skype credit.  You won't be able to receive SMS messages with Skype. 
Beyond all that, you'd only need to keep Skype Credit on your account if you wanted to make calls to countries other than the USA and Canada with this approach.  Keep in mind you can use a credit card or PayPal to purchase the subscription and online number, or you can purchase Skype Credit first and then use the credit for the subscription and online number. 
Hope that helps!
Patrick
Location/Ubicacion: Arizona USA
Time Zone/Hora Local: UTC/GMT -7
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