You would think 3 are serious enough about the Skypephone to fix the existing service. 

How many times have I not been able to dialout via Skype or receive calls; there just isn't enough capacity in their system (circuits?).

You can use the existing Skypephone as a 3G modem, but again you are at the mercy of the 3 network, which gets very slow at night/peak times. Transfers are very blocky; not very good for streaming. You cannot call it 'mobile broadband' if you compare it to regular ADSL/cable.

Not to mention chat timestamps are when 3 delivers the messages and not when they were written! So someone chats to you and you don't have a clue when they wrote it. This is irritating as 3 often doesn't deliver them for hours (I am not joking). Not to mention ppl not being online on the phone, but checking on a PC they are! So in summary there is alot that can be done to improve the service!

However the cost is cheap; 10 pounds per month to keep online with Skype, and then you can use 5 pounds of that for unlimited internet access. So it is cheap. Shame about customer service though.

I use 3 and their Symbian Skype Client and I live in Denmark. All skype calls go unincrypted via a phone number in Sweden. With the new law in Sweden, they can tap all Danish Skype via 3 calls without a warrant because they all pass the Swedish boarder. 3 doesn't tell you about this. I have no trust and no influence on Swedish law. I think this is very unfair.

This could be the case for other countries in Europe too.

Thannks for the article, but I'm a noob with these phones and skype. Can someone explain it please, or provide a link to a good How To?

A dongle, I remember them for software lincensing etc. When you say dongle, just what do you mean, is it a "proof" for skype that you have bought the hardware so are able to logon to skype, or it gives you credit to your skype account, or the dongle has your personal skype number/account and if you plug it into to any pc then your account will sign in? Is it any of those?

If I buy a skype phone can I just use it without a pc, like a regular phone? Can I buy a wireless broadband sim card, plug it into a skype phone, and just start phoning/video phoning?

Thanks for any good replies that come this way! ;-)

How many mugs of beer???? Seriously what's the point of this article whiteout beerometer???