March 2007

News from the Republic of Ireland: Suzy Byrne teasingly points out that [Fianna Fáil now have a Skype name](http://www.mamanpoulet.com/?p=130) ([fiannafailhq](skype:fiannafailhq?call)) — does this mean that they’ll roll it out across the nation if they’re re-elected?

Perhaps this is where Skype could make inroads into the public sector; while government departments are no doubt tied in to long term IT contracts, the politicians who run them have much more freedom.

Maybe our representatives in Westminster, Holyrood, Cardiff and Stormont could be persuaded to follow [Fianna Fáil](http://www.fiannafail.ie/)’s lead — to be honest, it’d be better if each representative had a Skype name, but one’s a good start

Does your MP, MSP or AM have a Skype name?

I was interested to see that the Trade and Industry staff at the [British Embassy in Tallinn](http://www.britishembassy.gov.uk/estonia) use Skype — appropriate, really, given that Skype’s home is in the very same city.

The Estonian government are big users of Skype, but perhaps that’s unsurprising. [This post from Shel Israel’s blog](http://redcouch.typepad.com/weblog/2006/10/stem_shares_sky.html) highlights the extraordinary openness with which they conduct everyday business.

In the UK, though, Skype isn’t as big a part of government service provision as perhaps it should be. Come to think of it, wouldn’t it be handy if we could instant message people too?

> Hi, I’m just doing my tax return, and was wondering whether I should include this bit in box 4. Yes? Great, thanks.

Which government department would you Skypeify first?

### 1. Two great phone packages from the Skype Store


The hugely popular [Philips 841 cordless phone](http://accessories.skype.com/landingpage?p=4580&page=CS) is now available — with these extras:

* **Free:** Philips 080 corded travel handset
* **Free:** Up to 10 hours of calls to landlines

**[Buy it now for only £129](http://accessories.skype.com/landingpage?p=4580&page=CS), and save £25 off the normal price.**


Also available is the [Skype WiFi phone](http://accessories.skype.com/item?SID=9716cb8407e03f4f1d23be8a5f63f643bd9:4580&sku=WSKP100PROMO), which comes with the same 10 hours of free calls.

**[Buy it now for only £99](http://accessories.skype.com/item?SID=9716cb8407e03f4f1d23be8a5f63f643bd9:4580&sku=WSKP100PROMO), and save £20 off the normal price.**

### 2. Free delivery from the Skype Store

Yep, that’s right — if you spend over £60, you won’t pay a penny for delivery. All the more reason to snap up one of the special deals quickly, as it’s only going to be available for a limited period.

### 3. Win £1000

All you have to do is pay with PayPal. Every day until the 9th of May, PayPal will be giving away £1000 — to enter, just [buy some Skype Credit](http://www.skype.com/go/store.buy.skypecredit) using PayPal, and you’ll get three entries into the prize draw. It's as simple as that. Full details can be found over at the [Grand Giveaway site](http://www.paypalgrandgiveaway.com/).

#### Have a great weekend!

*Plus, if you're using Windows, don't forget to [download the latest version of Skype](http://www.skype.com/go/download/), which includes Skype Prime among other goodies.*

The guys over at Brightspark Consulting posted the other day about [Skype etiquette](http://www.brightspark-consulting.com/2007/02/skype-etiquette.html) — in particular, the social rules (if any) which govern how to end a Skype chat.

In the land of queuing, weather conversations and pervasive sarcasm (and I suspect this applies equally to the Republic of Ireland as it does to the UK), it's odd that we haven't rationalised the process of getting rid of someone on the phone.

Especially in chat conversations, long goodbyes can be pretty annoying (as Brightspark point out), and on the phone, sometimes they just get silly.

Do you have any good techniques for ending phone calls without seeming rude? Or doesn't it matter?

Over the last week or so I've had quite a few people contact me asking about SkypeIn area codes — it seems that more and more people are looking for area codes for places which aren't big cities.

In the UK, SkypeIn numbers are available with the following area codes:

* 020 — London
* 0121 — Birmingham
* 0131 — Edinburgh
* 0141 — Glasgow
* 0151 — Liverpool
* 0161 — Manchester
* 0191 — Newcastle/Gateshead/Durham
* 0113 — Leeds
* 01237 — Brighton and Hove
* 028 — Northern Ireland (numbers available are in the Belfast range 028 95XX XXXX)
* 029 — Cardiff (numbers in the range 029 21XX XXXX)

These cover a reasonable selection of the bigger towns and cities across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, but there are certainly a few gaps. Which places would you like to see added to this list?

Just in case you're not aware, you can buy a SkypeIn number for wherever you like in the UK — different rules may apply to overseas numbers, and I know that France in particular requires you to be a French resident before you can have a French phone number.

Within Britain, though, you're free to choose any number. If you're at university in Birmingham, but have friends in Manchester, for example, you could grab a Manchester SkypeIn number so that they can call you at local rates. If you work between Glasgow and Edinburgh, and it's important to your clients that they don't think you're favouring one city over the other, then just pick one of each; you can have up to 10 SkypeIn numbers attached to each Skype name.

[The Times](http://timesonline.co.uk/) published a supplement on Wednesday titled: *Internet Telephony: Your guide to VoIP technology for business*, which highlights some of the benefits of switching from conventional phones to VoIP systems.

Naturally, the feature includes plenty of discussion of Skype, and a real focus on the [benefits of Skype and other VoIP solutions for small businesses](http://share.skype.com/sites/uk/2007/02/skype_pro_in_the_uk.html).

More interestingly, the supplement doesn’t just emphasise the financial benefits of switching to VoIP — it also discusses the productivity enhancements. Even just in the simplest sense:

> When voice and data are combined over an IP network, staff can suddenly work together far more effectively, looking up each other’s status on the system so they make sure they do not call when someone is ‘away’ or ‘busy’. Dialling numbers is also improved by being made as simple a selecting an icon on a corporate directory.

These benefits are reflected in the feedback from Lewis and Hickey Architects, who [I wrote about previously](http://share.skype.com/sites/uk/2007/02/skype_pro_in_the_uk.html). We’ve made a video about their experiences, which you can watch below:

How do you use Skype to enhance productivity? I mean, the emoticons are good, right?