Movistar blocking Skype on the iPhone?

[Sleuth]

Skype just released a new version of Skype for the iPhone that allowed calling over 3G. I tried it out yesterday and it worked great, but today I cannot even connect to Skype via 3G. It is hung on "Signing in..."

Does anyone else have an iPhone they can try this on? I'm curious if Movistar has blocked Skype completely over 3G.

 

[katti]

It works!!

 

[Sleuth]

Yep, sorry... Temporary issue for me and it is working now.

The interesting thing is that Skype charges US $0.172/min to Argentine cell phones, Movistar pre-pago is $0,99/min (US $.253/min) to Movistar cell phones and $1,98/min (US $0.506/min) to non-Movistar cell phones. You can get 1GB of data from Movistar for $9 pesos, so this seems to make using Skype even cheaper to make your local calls.

 

[AlexfromLA]

Android 2.2 ftw!

 

[katti]

Yep, sorry... Temporary issue for me and it is working now.

The interesting thing is that Skype charges US $0.172/min to Argentine cell phones, Movistar pre-pago is $0,99/min (US $.253/min) to Movistar cell phones and $1,98/min (US $0.506/min) to non-Movistar cell phones. You can get 1GB of data from Movistar for $9 pesos, so this seems to make using Skype even cheaper to make your local calls.

This is indeed interesting, but do you know how much 1GB is? If you use the iphone apps frequently and you call a lot, how far can you get with 1GB?

 

[Sleuth]

For $9 pesos, you can get 1GB to use over 2 days on the pre-paid plan.

Skype data usage seems pretty low...
https://support.skype.com/faq/FA1527/How-much-data-does-Skype-on-my-mobile-use

Let's look at an example user (approximate usage only):

Tom has 20 Skype contacts and signs in twice a day for a total of 90 minutes. He instant messages for about 25 minutes each day and makes 20 minutes of Skype calls. Tom would use just under 1 MB of data in one month.

 

[elhombresinnombre]

Sleuth, ITYM 1Gb. http://www.hellkom.co.za/skype-bandwidth-usage/

 

[katti]

Thanks, that's a big help.

Meanwhile I tested the Skype calls over 3G, while driving. In the center it didn't work well : I heard my friends in Europe but they didn't hear me. I received a 'low signal' warning. That didn't surprise me all that much, as my GPS also has trouble finding the satelites when I am in between the buildings. I tried it again when I had left town, and then it worked perfectly. We had to speak a bit slower, but we had a good talk of over an hour... for free!