I have just seen on the UK skype phone that with 3 there is a Skype Phone which allows skype phone to skype phone calls for free. I'm living in the UK at the moment for uni but my family and girlfriend (who i call alot) are all back in Switzerland, i was wondering if anyone has used these Skype mobile phones and if it would allow for free calls from the UK to Swiss on a pair of Skype phones?

http://3skypephone.com/english/index.html

http://3skypephone.com/forum/index.php

would seem the most logical place to ask..

Try voipstunt.com.

Free calls for 10 Euro every 120 days (basic restrictions apply)

Apparently "free" no longer means "no charge"

Don't know about the Skype mobile (it will arrive in CH but not for a while I believe) but I always use Skype to "phone home". Skype to Skype is free (and I also have a Skype cordless phone so I don't always have to be stuck in from of the Mac). If friends don't have Skype you can use "Skype out" to call their landline from your Skype. You have to buy credit for this but it's really cheap. Most countries it's about 1.3 New Pence per minute. Call quality is generally good, too.

speaking of which I use a bluetooth headset on my Mac when using Skype (iMac has built in bluetooth), reception is about 10 meters or so so at least I can walk around the room or into the next room without loosing the connection.

Yeah, I haven't got round to buying one of those yet, I tend to use the big headphone mic combo (whilst pretending to be on the Millennium Falcon - "Good shooting kid now don't get cocky").
I don't really pretend to do that, that was a joke. Honest.....

Love my Skype!

Use it all the time in Switzerland;and California.

Having Skype on your mobile phone is something uncommon, and I've ony seen it with the operator "3" (as your link points out, shows it in 8 countries where "3" operates).

The FAQ on that website looks pretty good and should answer all your questions. Switzerland doesn't have "3" and no operator supports this kind of thing, so if you want to call your girlfriend/family on their mobile phone you have to pay with SkypeOut. But of course if they a Skype phone at home you can call that for free.

I have this Skype phone at home. It plugs streigt into the router, so the PC/Mac/whatever doesn't even need to be turned on. You don't even need a computer at all actually

http://www.stegcomputer.ch/details.asp?prodid=phi-8411b

We just bought my parents one of these Skype phones and it's works really well. It plugs straight into their DSL router. They just pick up the phone when it rings and they don't need to load Skype on their computer, which would be more complicated for them.

register with Switzernet for 9 francs a month and you can call Switzerland and UK landlines for free. You'll need something like x-phone lite on your PC to use it.

thanks for all the replies, i guess for the time being i'll just have to use skype out on my pc to call, until the Skype Phone comes out in Switzerland.

Afaik, as long as you are making PC to PC calls or Internet calls for both sides then your call should be free and possible. So if you have Skype phone in U.K. and will call your GF in her Skype (PC) then its free. I never used a Skype mobile phone or even seen one so I can't really answer that question.

But again, your Skype phone can call her Skype on her PC. Also the other way around. I used to like Skype but their service deteriorated and maybe the result of too many subscribers or what not so I switched to Onesuite that can also do the same thing as Skype but with more features to my liking and 24/7 live customer support which Skype doesn't have.

@jpmfan: Are you fan of Juan Pablo Montoya hence the handle?

and unless it works first time you will never get support or help with it. Switzernet is a waste of time in my experience.

jpmfan: Search for Switzernet as we discussed this before. We also discussed the pitfalls of Skype and the merits of SIP.

yup, although now i support Lewis Hamilton in F1, couldnt be bothered to change the name though :P

Right, now somebody please spoon feed the computer challenged here:

I have a laptop with built in Bluetooth a webcam and regular old Skype chat thingy, my mum in South Africa has a computer with a web cam and Skype chat thingy.
What do I need to do to now to be able to speak to her via Skype or this Voip for free? Do I need phones? Do I plug it into the computer???
Totaly clueless!!

Start here---> http://www.skype.com/intl/en/getconnected/

There's an article in The Financial Times about how Ebay (which bought Skype back in 2005) is considering selling off Skype.

(source)