TRADITIONAL home phones may become a thing of the past with the launch of monthly internet packages allowing unlimited calls to landlines and some mobiles around the world.

Skype, which boasts more than 300m subscribers globally, is offering free calls to landlines in Britain for a monthly fee of £1.95 – or just £23 a year.

It will allow consumers to bypass BT’s call charges, which can be 4.5p a minute during the day and 1.5p a minute in the evenings, as well as monthly charges of up to £5.95. BT also charges a 6p minimum set-up charge per call.

Users will still need a broadband internet connection to sign up to Skype, which may require a BT line costing a minimum of £10.50 a month, although cable broadband customers with Virgin Media can do away with BT altogether.

Experts said that even with the cost of broadband, Skype would still offer big savings. A typical user would pay £33.99 a month with BT – £7.50 in calls and £26.49 in fees. The same user would pay a total of just £25.22 with Skype, including broadband charges.

Users have to set up Skype on their home computers and attach a microphone and speakers. After doing this, they can make free calls to landlines for as long as they want and at any time.

For a flat rate of £6.95, customers can make free calls to landlines in the US, France, Spain, Australia and other destinations without having to worry about monthly allowances or per minute rates. The package also allows you to make free mobile calls to the US, Canada, Singa-pore and China. There is a £2.95 package for unlimited calls to European countries only.

In contrast, BT will charge up to 17p a minute for calls to US mobiles and landlines.

However, calls to mobiles in the UK are more expensive with Skype. In most cases it will cost you 16p a minute but only 12.5p a minute during the day and 7.5p in the evenings with BT.

Skype currently appeals to frequent travellers or people with relatives abroad who also have Skype, but the new package could put it into the mainstream.

Rob Barnes, mobiles expert at comparison firm Moneysuper-market said: “If you use this package to call landlines and your monthly free minutes to call mobiles, you can save yourself a packet, especially if you find yourself going over your limit regularly.”

Though most Skype users make calls using a home PC and a microphone, it is possible to use the service in conjunction with your mobile tariff so you never have to go over your free usage limits again.

Last week, Skype launched a mobile service, making it even easier to set up internet telephony on your handset.

It will add pressure on traditional mobile operators to reduce or abandon mobile termination charges which telecoms companies charge to allow third parties to connect to their networks.

BT said last week that consumers were being overcharged by up to £1 billion a year because of termination rates.

Mobile phone firm 3, which is campaigning against the charges, suggests mobile-call rates could be cut by up to 50% if the charges were scrapped.

The Skype mobile software is currently being tested but the public can access the software for free from skype.com/go/mobile download and offer feedback.

An official launch of the software is expected this year.

In fact, 3 already has a Skype-phone package that allows unlimited free calls to other Skype users around the world with the push of a button. This costs a minimum of £12 a month.

However, the plan does not offer Skype-Out calls allowing cheap calls to nonSkype users. However, both 3 and Skype last week confirmed plans for a mobile Skype-Out package before the end of the year.

A spokesman for 3 said: “Communication over the internet is becoming ever more popular. It’s only natural that it will become easier for people to use the internet to make calls over their mobile handsets.”

You will need a fast web-ena-bled mobile to make decent-qual-ity internet calls. This usually means handsets with HSDPA technology, otherwise known as broadband mobile. The Nokia N95 has this technology and is available on the above tariffs.

If you are tech-savvy, another way to access Skype on your mobile is to connect to your PC through the internet and use the Skype that is installed on your home computer.

Software such as WebEx PC Now allows the software to be installed at home on a mobile.

Matthew Hancock, 28, a recruitment consultant from London, regularly uses this to call relatives in Switzerland and France.

He said: “Being able to plug into my Skype account via my mobile is a really nice tool. I had a Skype account on my desktop, I just need to make sure I turn my PC on before I make a call.

“With the WebEx Skype access I’ve probably cut my bill by at least £30 a month and I don’t have to be sat staring at my PC while making calls.”

WebEx costs £5.95 a month. You download the software from the website http://pcnow-uk. webex.com. You then enter your mobile number into the system to link the mobile to your PC.

Again, you will need a good data download rate on your handset, such as 3’s X-series, to make the most of this service.

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