Just gave it a shot. The quality and ease of the new version is impressive! I was able to call my cell phone (it showed up as 0000123456) and speak at a normal distance in a normal tone through my tablet’s microphone (Gateway CX2618) and I heard the message on the other end with about as much clarity as a run of the mill land line speakerphone.

Be aware that this only works *within* the US and Canada. It isn’t free for calls *to* the US or Canada from outside those countries. I found that out last night (bummer!). So, if you’ll be travelling outside those two countries and want to use Skype to call landlines in those countries, you’ll still need to have a funded SkypeOut account.

so theoretically I could cancel the voice plan on my XV6700 and just pay for the data plan…. hmmmmm

Now this is a reason for me to signup for an account.