A good friend of mine moved to Manila in January. I ran into his cousin in San Francisco the other day. It was late – the middle of the day in the Philippines – so we decided to give him a call. Neither of us had his local mobile, but I retrieved it from his Facebook profile. I added this to his contact info on my Nokia E71, which is synced to my Google Contacts and integrated with Skype for outgoing cellular calls (versus Skype contacts for VOIP Skype to Skype calls). Logged in to my account with some SkypeOut credit, I type the first few letters of his name and select his Manila mobile. After first asking for permission, it then dials a domestic number which makes the international VOIP connection. In less than thirty seconds, I have not only retrieved his number, but have him on the phone half a world away.
The cost is the domestic minutes from your carrier, whether contract or pre-paid, and the SkypeOut rate for the country you are dialing. China landlines and mobiles are just 2 cents per minute but some European mobiles are more than 20 cents. You also can adjust your Skype Account settings so that your number appears on the receiver’s caller ID. One drawback is that your phone log will read the domestic numbers that route the calls, and not the actual contacts called. You must navigate to your Skype account online to review these details, including the cost of the call.