Free Skype extends to 3 X-Series

IN ALL the noise surrounding the Skypephone announcement by 3 UK, the fact that free Skype minutes have been extended to existing X-Series handsets got overlooked. You have to upgrade the built-in client to get them, though.

An INQ reader pointed this fact out to us days ago but it proved impossible to verify until now. The reason was that the Skype client within our loan X-Series handset just refused to upgrade.

It proved to be an obscure fault. By mistake, the date in the Nokia N73 had been set to 2006, not 2007. So when the system came to check which version of the software was newer, it fell over. Changing the date fixed it.

In the meantime, the INQ had gone to all of the trouble of updating the N73's OS, only to discover that there's an update version of Nokia's Software Updater utility, too.

There has been a bizarre side-effect to updating the N73's Skype client, however. We now know how many free Skype minutes you get a month – 5,000.

For some reason, 3's servers think the N73 has used up its monthly quota. So you get an error message telling you you're out of minutes and to wait until next month to get Skype calls free again. Pity it's only the 3^rd at the mo.

Oh, and the new client doesn't provide a Chat facility for the X-Series. To get that you're still going to need to switch to the Skypephone.

Anyway, the INQ has also worked out how 3 can provide you with free Skype calls even though the handset doesn't actually possess a data plan. You have to purchase that capability as an extra to surf the mobile web.

The Iskoot software client employed by 3 doesn't actually make a data connexion to carry the first leg of journey to 3's servers. It initially makes a voice call. After that the rest of the link is carried via an IP link in the normal way.

This is obviously why 3 is able to give the minutes away for free. Skype calls don't consume valuable 3G data bandwidth. They simply burn up unused voice capacity which 3 has in the first place. µ

L'INQ
www.iskoot.com