Skype

[Millian]

I've got a bit of a hair brained idea. I'll be coming over to LOS sometime this year for a couple of months to help a friend start up a bar (yeah I know, i tried to warn him ), travel around a bit and maybe study Thai.

I'll have enough money for the time, but if I want to stay longer I have a bit of an idea how to possibly do a bit of work over there.

My friend has a UK telesales company and I have done work in the past for him while in-between jobs, and I was toying with the idea of maybe doing some remote work for him while over here. Yes I know its naughty as I wont have a work permit and wont be paying tax, but I'm sure not all of you are angles.

Obviously ringing the UK from Thai would be incredibly expensive, probably be spending my wages and commission on the phone bill, so I was thinking of using Skype to conduct business. I've had a quick search on the forum and found varying views on the quality of Skype when used in LOS. Do you think if one had a decent connection that Skype would be reliable and viable to use in this way to make Business calls? Or is this just another hair brained idea from someone, like many, that has fallen in love with LOS and would like to extent ones stay here?

At least look on the bright side, I didn't make a post asking you ways I can make money out there.

Cheers for any advice.

(Not sure if this is in the wrong forum, apologies if so.)

[Boater]

Hi

Skype can be very bad if you are calling numbers

my company makes alot of overseas calls here and we use VOIP.... cheap as chips

hope this helps

[gregb]

You'd be surprised how cheap it is to call the UK from Thailand. For mobile numbers, just dialing 008 can get you rates at only 6 baht/min, which is about 17.2 US cents per minute, or 13.5 euro cents.

For fixed lines, many Thai carriers like Deedial offer rates at less than 1 baht per minute, or about 2.2 euro cents. Not exactly the unlimited plans that Skype has for fixed lines, but even Skype's standard use terms are such that it isn't really unlimited, and they'll shut you off if they start losing money on you.

Skype is actually one of the most expensive options, and they don't have local servers in Asia. All your calls get routed out through Denmark or Ireland. Check around for other options. The local services are really pretty good.

[canadianmonkey]

with voip you can have a UK phone number in thailand with no fees..

Xcept you have to move somewhere where the DSL is good. many areas have huge lags at peak hours.

I know Sathorn is fine for a fact, dunno about the rest of the city

[PattayaParent]

My friend has a UK telesales company and I have done work in the past for him while in-between jobs, and I was toying with the idea of maybe doing some remote work for him while over here. Yes I know its naughty as I wont have a work permit and wont be paying tax, but I'm sure not all of you are angles.

I most certainly am an angle, and quite an obtuse one so I've been told.

[eggomaniac]

which is about 17.2 US cents per minute,

17 cents from Thailand? phone cards are 4 to 6 cents per minute to Thailand.

[An 8 hour day of 'calling' would be about $25.]

if the 'calling' job is minimum wage, you would 'clear' about $50 per day. Oh, then the cost of transferring the money to a Thai bank account.

$1000 a month is 'enough to live on' in Thailand.

You would have to fly out of Thailand every month, or every 2 weeks by ground, to maintain tourist status. That would be a 'cost' but if you haven't explored Cambodia and Laos, it could be a plus.

hmmm

spread the bank accounts around. 20,000 to 30,000 Bhat is a great salary in Thailand, I wonder if they have to report steady incoming deposits? Maybe 3 accounts would attract less suspicion, or more???

I would tell NOBODY what you are doing, Thai or farang. It would take one jealous person and you are expelled for life.

----------

Oh, tell you friend to never go into a meeting on anything above the ground floor.

[chuckle] search 'bar owner in Thailand falls to death from window' on Google if you want to know what I mean.

[Toany]

For fixed lines, many Thai carriers like Deedial offer rates at less than 1 baht per minute, or about 2.2 euro cents.

Correction. Deedial now charges 7 Baht per minute for UK calls other than London numbers. Their adverts often do not point this out. A few member like me have been caught out by this company changing it's rates.

Edited February 7, 2009 by Toany

[kiakaha]

but I'm sure not all of you are angles.

<highschool_geometry_joke_playing_on_mispelling>

..only the obtuse variety

</highschool_geometry_joke_playing_on_mispelling>

[kiakaha]

with voip you can have a UK phone number in thailand with no fees..

Xcept you have to move somewhere where the DSL is good. many areas have huge lags at peak hours.

I know Sathorn is fine for a fact, dunno about the rest of the city

what free service is this ?

With "Skype In" you can have a UK phone number for a monthly fee and any calls to that UK number will get forwarded to your Skype client wherever you happen to be logged on ie: a computer in Bangkok.

I have a "Skype In" number in New Zealand for family members in New Zealand to call me for free.

http://www.skype.com/allfeatures/onlinenumber/

[GungaDin]

I've got Skype but without a landline it's useless, except for "chat".

When you guys mention "VOIP" is there a specific co. you'd suggest? (if I had a landline)

Thanks.

[Mali1964]

I've got Skype but without a landline it's useless, except for "chat".

When you guys mention "VOIP" is there a specific co. you'd suggest? (if I had a landline)

Thanks.

Have a read of my post's on a VoIP company i recommend, Is'nt Skype also a VoIP company? Its just a brand name that's caught on, I used to use it but its to expensive voipdiscount gives you 300 free mins a week to landlines in the UK & landlines & mobiles in Thailand & the USA I even use it to ring Thai numbers to save in 1 2 call charges.

For business I'm not sure some people report an echo at their end this can sometimes be adjusted by the mic settings,but if it were for business & you talk to a computer geke maybe they can set you up with a top of the range sound card to help, also you will need high bandwidth 2mb minimum or you can end up dropping calls at busy time's of the day here in LOS.

As an idea I'm in Issarn & speke to my family for 30/40 mins at a time with little or no problems also my Thai stepdaughters have twigged on & use it to ring Grandma in Bangkok, a small 10 euro + VAT credit needs to be made to get you started.

[Mali1964]

Sorry forgot to add the link

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Premium-Rate-Call-t237133.html

& when ya outa free minutes its around a penny a minute, it all shows up on the screen as you dial great little service i think.

Edited February 8, 2009 by Mali1964

[Millian]

which is about 17.2 US cents per minute,

17 cents from Thailand? phone cards are 4 to 6 cents per minute to Thailand.

[An 8 hour day of 'calling' would be about $25.]

if the 'calling' job is minimum wage, you would 'clear' about $50 per day. Oh, then the cost of transferring the money to a Thai bank account.

$1000 a month is 'enough to live on' in Thailand.

You would have to fly out of Thailand every month, or every 2 weeks by ground, to maintain tourist status. That would be a 'cost' but if you haven't explored Cambodia and Laos, it could be a plus.

hmmm

spread the bank accounts around. 20,000 to 30,000 Bhat is a great salary in Thailand, I wonder if they have to report steady incoming deposits? Maybe 3 accounts would attract less suspicion, or more???

I would tell NOBODY what you are doing, Thai or farang. It would take one jealous person and you are expelled for life.

----------

Oh, tell you friend to never go into a meeting on anything above the ground floor.

[chuckle] search 'bar owner in Thailand falls to death from window' on Google if you want to know what I mean.

I'd probably get an education visa while studying Thia so the visa runs wouldn't be so much of a problem. I think hourly I would be on around 10 pounds an hour + commission.

That's a good point about the bank stuff, although I could just use my UK account and card. Would have to work out whether the cost of withdrawing on it all the time is greater or less than the charges to transferring money to a Thia account.

Thanks for the info guys, I will have to look into this VOIP thing.

ta

[GungaDin]

Thanks Mali.

[Mali1964]

Thanks Mali.

Ya welcome got some great advise myself from TV.

[noahvail]

Hi

Skype can be very bad if you are calling numbers

my company makes alot of overseas calls here and we use VOIP.... cheap as chips

hope this helps

Yeah, I use Skype pretty exclusively, since that's what all family and most friends use. I'd guess that one out of four calls is bad enough to force a redial, but then it's generally fine.

But for videoconferencing, it's great! I vidcon with one kid in the US and another kid in NZ (grown-ups now, when did i get old?) every week, sometimes more often than that. The calls are almost 100% excellent, using a 2 mbp connection. Generally, if the call is less than excellent, it's in the voice, and generally a quick adjust to volume levels makes it fine. And I'm just using a mid-range sound card and the built-in mic and camera of the laptop.

But I'd check out the other VOIPs for price and quality comparisons. Most will let you download and test for free, I think, so test away and find what works best with you.

[webfact]

Hi

Skype can be very bad if you are calling numbers

my company makes alot of overseas calls here and we use VOIP.... cheap as chips

hope this helps

My experiences with Skype calling landlines or cell are more than satisfying. I am on 2MB ADSL and the quality of calls made to landlines in Canada or Europe are far better than using my own cell or landline. This applies for outgoing and incoming calls. I must admit sometimes calls are dropping but this has happened only a few times (less than 5 times) in the last 8 month - if I remember it correctly.

Edited February 8, 2009 by webfact

[Guest Reimar]

One of the main reason I use skype for calling to Landlines is the connection I've to the USA and that special that I'm able to call to american 800 numbers tollfree from Thailand.

I had just a call to Networksolutions with an calling time of more tha 30 minutes for FREE! and the call had an excellent quality.

Cheers.

[Mali1964]

To get back to the OP have you considered a internet phone I've just bought one in the UK for when i go back there soon, then bringing it back to Thailand with me, it was delivered to my daughter yesterday she says she is going to call me on it later to try it out, think this may help the echo problem??? let you know how it goes this is the bottom of the range one, i bought the 0ne you can txt from for £99 from Argo's online UK.

Also they say only one IP address per account well my Daughter shares the same account as me, when she logs in it automaticly logs out at my end so there's 2 IP address's.

The only time i eat into my credit is if i go over 300 mins a rolling week,then its 0.009 cents a min or if i call 0845 like the Doctors, NHS & other helplines using these numbers.

1. Philips VOIP3211S/05 Digital Cordless Internet Telephone.
   

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Philips VOIP3211S/05 Digital Cordless Internet Telephone.

552/2435

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/part...es|12108695.htm

[Phatcharanan]

Sorry forgot to add the link

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Premium-Rate-Call-t237133.html

& when ya outa free minutes its around a penny a minute, it all shows up on the screen as you dial great little service i think.

I use Voipdiscount too. Best and cheapest I,ve found, by a long shot.

[Kf6vci]

Well, you are on the right track. but takie this a few steps further. First, buy a Skype-out calling plan for the UK. then buy a half price British Skype-in number. For the USA, I pay about $ 4 a month (it gets chyeaper when prepaid annually) plus $ 30 p.a. for an American number.

This gives me 10,000 minutes to call the USA which I'm doing from wherever the internet connection is.

Internet cafe's have headsets, so this is a piece of cake.

Alternatively, try www.voipdiscount.com charging EUR 10.50 for 3 monthsa. They only give you 300 minutes a week though. Audio quality is inferior, but you can also call other countries like Singapore.

The beauty of a British Skype-in numnber is that your business partners can do the calling and when you are offline, their calls go to voice mail and mostly displays the phone number as well.

Good luck!

Chris

[Mali1964]

Well, you are on the right track. but takie this a few steps further. First, buy a Skype-out calling plan for the UK. then buy a half price British Skype-in number. For the USA, I pay about $ 4 a month (it gets chyeaper when prepaid annually) plus $ 30 p.a. for an American number.

This gives me 10,000 minutes to call the USA which I'm doing from wherever the internet connection is.

Internet cafe's have headsets, so this is a piece of cake.

Alternatively, try www.voipdiscount.com charging EUR 10.50 for 3 monthsa. They only give you 300 minutes a week though. Audio quality is inferior, but you can also call other countries like Singapore.

The beauty of a British Skype-in numnber is that your business partners can do the calling and when you are offline, their calls go to voice mail and mostly displays the phone number as well.

Good luck!

Chris

You also get a skype in type number with most Voip accounts including Voipdiscount mines a Manchester UK 0161 number & its free Skype charge a fee don't they? Can't say there's any difference in quality as i still use skype for computer to computer calls for free & still get dropped calls etc. This problem is more to do with your internet connection & how busy the net is generally, IE time of day etc.

Note Skype is a VoIP system meaning Voice over Internet Protocol or summert like that, VoIP is also the same route that your 007/008/009 numbers are taking from your mobile or Thai landlines via CAT, have you never had the same sound problem on your mobile?? You are still using the net. Same system/connection.

You can make this more seamless with an internet phone & upgraded sound card etc.

Happy free calling to all.

[phazey]

Get a Linksys SPA3102. Plug it onto your UK landline. Connect to it over voip using a SIP client and that's all you need.

Edited February 9, 2009 by phazey

[Mali1964]

Get a Linksys SPA3102. Plug it onto your UK landline. Connect to it over voip using a SIP client and that's all you need.

Umm! Interesting may browse that idea sometime, but still happy with what i have may suit the OP well though.

http://www.voiplink.com/Linksys_SPA_3102_p...ys-spa-3102.htm

[katana]

You also get a skype in type number with most Voip accounts including Voipdiscount mines a Manchester UK 0161 number & its free Skype charge a fee don't they? ...

Apparently Voip-in is 1 Euro.

http://www.voipdiscount.com/en/voip-in.html

[Mali1964]

You also get a skype in type number with most Voip accounts including Voipdiscount mines a Manchester UK 0161 number & its free Skype charge a fee don't they? ...

Apparently Voip-in is 1 Euro.

http://www.voipdiscount.com/en/voip-in.html

A few posts above I wrote: small 10 euro + VAT credit needs to be made to get you started

So yes you are correct which will make it even cheaper if the pound gets back to the 1.40's but that's another topic that's well covered here on TV I'll keep on Dreamin

[Beacher]

I changed from Skype to Yahoo messenger for PC to Phone (mobile or fixed line) calls over a year ago, and I'm happy I did. Skype was actually getting quite pricey compared to the completion, especially considering the connection fee they charge. If I made a call on Skype, and nobody answered at the other end, I would be charged about 6 cents (3.X for the connection fee and 2.4 cents for a one minute call to N.A. (that was really only a few seconds)). With Yahoo there is in no connection fee and their rate of 1 cent a minute (vs. Skype's 2.4 cents) is obviously much cheaper. There was also a quality issue with Skype -- it was getting crappier all the time, and I'd often have to call 3 or 4 times before getting a decent connection, so I found that I'd often spend 18-24 cents before even getting to talk to someone properly. Yahoo's line quality has been good to very good for me and rarely do I have to retry any calls.

Bottom line: IMHO Skype is probably one of the worst choices for VOIP (voice over internet protocol) services these days.

Edited February 11, 2009 by Beacher

[Millian]

thanks for the info guys.

another question - I guess there are places that have better internet connection speeds than others in bangkok. Is there known places that are good, or would you just have to try and find them yourself hit and miss?

Also are the speeds/quality compatible in other areas of LOS, say Chang Mia?

ta