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XBL Gold gets 6 months of free Skype Group Video Calling and 100 monthly minutes

K

Killthee

helped a brotha out on multiple separate occasions!
Old?

Karen Tong said:
Top 5 Exciting New Features for Skype for Xbox One

No. 1: Free Group Video Calling and 100 Worldwide Minutes! (2)

Today, we’re excited to announce that we’re offering Group Video Calling and up to 100 worldwide minutes per month for calls to mobiles and landlines in over 50 countries – free for six months with an Xbox Live Gold membership on Xbox One. Free Skype minutes mean you can order a pizza from the place down the street or chat with a friend around the world all from your Xbox One.

With Xbox One, we’re making big strides toward reaching our vision of making the living room even more of what it has been – a place for people to connect. This is just the beginning for Skype for Xbox One. We’ll continue to listen to feedback and look forward to delivering more exciting improvements. Check back here to get the latest on Skype and don’t forget to visit the Xbox Wire blog for updates and news on Xbox One.

2 Skype on Xbox One offer requires paid Xbox Live Gold membership (sold separately). Offer must be redeemed via Skype on Xbox One by March 31, 2014; valid only in select Xbox One-supported Xbox Live countries. Limit 1 offer per Skype account and Xbox Live Gold primary account holder. Broadband Internet required; ISP fees may apply. Calling to select countries and lines only. See country list and offer terms at www.skype.com/go/xboxofferterms.
Click to expand...

Terms said:
Xbox Offer Terms

Offer valid only with a paid Xbox Live Gold membership (sold separately) on Xbox One, in the following Xbox One-supported Xbox Live countries: Austria, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, United Kingdom, United States. Redeem by signing into Skype on your Xbox One on or before March 31, 2014; 6 month offer period begins at initial redemption date. Must remain an Xbox Live Gold member throughout the 6 month period. Offer limited to 1 Skype account and 1 Xbox Live Gold primary account holder, and is non-transferable. Subject to Skype Terms of Use at www.skype.com/go/tou and Xbox Live Terms of Use and system requirements at www.xbox.com/live. No emergency calls can be made using Skype. Skype is not a telephone replacement service. Broadband Internet required; ISP fees may apply.

Free Skype subscriptions end after the 6 month offer period. Offer includes a 6 month subscription of 100 minutes of Skype calling per month to both landlines and mobiles in Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bermuda, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, China, Columbia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guadeloupe, Guam, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Republic of Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Malta, Martinique, Mayotte, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Mariana, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, American Samoa, San Marino, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela, and United States Virgin Islands; and calls to landlines in Andorra, Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Croatia, Dominican Republic, Estonia, French Guiana, Gibraltar, Iceland, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Mongolia, Morocco, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey and Uruguay. Excludes special, premium and non-geographic numbers.

Offer also includes a 6 month Skype Group Video Calling subscription. Group Video Calling can be between 3 and 10 people (maximum depends on your device, on Xbox One the maximum is 4 people). For the best quality, we recommend Group Video Calling between up to 5 people. A fair usage policy applies, at www.skype.com/en/legal/gvc-fair-usage.
Click to expand...
 
M

Marleyman

Banned
PorkFryRice said:
everyone post their skype names. mine is: xXAntoni0Band3rasXx
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1049.gif
 
F

flkraven

Member
I love what Microsoft is trying to do, but I hate the way that everything is monetized as a pay-to-use service. So group video chatting on skype ultimately requires a subscription? Why can Google hangouts do it for free? Google also allows you to call phones through your browser, unlimited minutes, free. Why can't Skype do something like that? Or atleast put a permanent monthly minutes restriction on it.

I appreciate the 6 months of free, but I wish they offered something a bit more similar to Google's model.
 
H

Hoo-doo

Banned
We're witnessing a battle of value.

Sony giving free shit, Microsoft giving free shit. Customers win.

Edit: wait, it's not actually free but part of an Xbl subscription? Well, it's still better than nothing.
 
R

Resident_UA

Member
Why does it have to be redeemed on Xbox One?!!!!!!!!! I'm paying for Live as much as those people that will get Xbox One. WTF?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
K

keit4

Banned
Today, we’re excited to announce that we’re offering Group Video Calling and up to 100 worldwide minutes per month for calls to mobiles and landlines in over 50 countries – free for six months with an Xbox Live Gold membership on Xbox One.
Click to expand...

100 worldwide minutes per month for calls to mobiles and landlines in over 50 countries
Click to expand...

mobiles and landlines
Click to expand...

.

IHaveCandy said:
I like how Microsoft allows me to use Skype for free on my PS Vita, but not on Xbox One.
Click to expand...

Do you ever heard of Skype credit?
 
M

mentallyinept

Banned
So group video calling (more than 2) will have a fee after 6 months, but 1 on 1 video calling is still free?

Edit: Looking at the features on skype.com, it appears that one on one video calling is free. Source
 
G

gtj1092

Member
I thought group video was apart of Xbox live subscription. At least that what the fans were using to sell the idea why Skype is free everywhere else and not free on xone.
 
H

Hoo-doo

Banned
Group calls between skype users require an additional subscription beyond XBL fees?

I thought that was a basic feature? This shit is convoluted as fuck.
 
K

Killthee

helped a brotha out on multiple separate occasions!
flkraven said:
I love what Microsoft is trying to do, but I hate the way that everything is monetized as a pay-to-use service. So group video chatting on skype ultimately requires a subscription? Why can Google hangouts do it for free? Google also allows you to call phones through your browser, unlimited minutes, free. Why can't Skype do something like that? Or atleast put a permanent monthly minutes restriction on it.

I appreciate the 6 months of free, but I wish they offered something a bit more similar to Google's model.
Click to expand...
Moobabe said:
What happens after that six month period? Do you pay an additional fee for those group calls?
Click to expand...

I don't think they've announced pricing for XBO users, but on other devices video is free while group video is $5 a month.

While video calling is free on Skype, Microsoft typically charges $4.99 per month for group video calling with multiple people.

http://www.theverge.com/2013/11/8/5080800/xbox-one-free-skype-group-video-calling-minutes
Click to expand...
 
V

VibratingDonkey

Member
Today, we’re excited to announce that we’re offering Group Video Calling and up to 100 worldwide minutes per month for calls to mobiles and landlines in over 50 countries – free for six months with an Xbox Live Gold membership on Xbox One.
Click to expand...
Oh 50 countries,so this isn't limited t...
Offer must be redeemed via Skype on Xbox One by March 31, 2014; valid only in select Xbox One-supported Xbox Live countries.

Austria, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, United Kingdom, United States.
Click to expand...
Ha! You had me going there for a while Microsoft, you ol bugger you. :D
 
P

Penguins&PolarBears

Member
Disappointing news to me. From previous comments on this it sounded like Skype video conferencing was going to be permanently free for XBL Gold users with Xbox One. Can't see myself ever paying for a feature that I'd use once in a blue moon. Why not just attach advertising to the app and give it for free to everyone? Guarantee they'd get more money from advertising on a free service than by getting just a relatively few number of people to pay.

This plus Xbox Music are really dumb decisions. You are requiring subscriptions stacked on top of subscriptions. With 3rd party services it makes some sense since MS makes no money from Netflix or Amazon, but why not bundle services like XBL Gold with ad-supported versions of Xbox Music and Skype video conferencing.

bronson said:
but why would i use skype to order a pizza when i have an app for that
Click to expand...

I know this is facetious, but your local pizza place is most likely not going to have an app. Honestly I think ordering/designing your pizza from the Pizza Hut app is really cool and I wouldn't mind seeing more apps like that in the future.
 
B

Bsigg12

Member
I like the group video calling feature. I have some friends across the country who I never see so being able to do a group call after throwing down in battlefield will be cool.
 
S

SwiftDeath

Member
So after 6 months even with gold you can't do group skype calls without a separate subscription?

I can understand the skype call minutes as that's the usual practice I think but thought they'd let group skype calls be included in the XBL gold subscription

harSon said:
Group video chat has never been free for Skype users
Click to expand...

Why though?
 
C

Carl

Member
Pretty sure Candy meant that Skype on Vita is available to anyone, but it's behind a Gold paywall on Xbone.

Still weird but whatever.
 
P

Penguins&PolarBears

Member
It seems so dumb to me that MS is willing to do ad-supported versions of their services on the web/Windows 8, but not on Xbox One.

People think it is bad enough that they require a Gold subscription to even use these apps, but then to stack a second, third, or fourth MS subscription on top of Gold is completely idiotic.

Outlook.com is ad-supported, Music.xbox.com is ad-supported, Bing is ad-supported. I understand the Gold subscription isn't enough to cover all of these services, but they could use advertising on top of Gold to bring these services to more people. They could also offer a higher tier of Gold service that bundled services at a discount.
 
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