'Tesco Phone' v 'Skype'

I'm sure most here have seen the Tesco phone advertised on tv. Apparently it's possible to make telephone calls for free using the internet as long as the person you're calling also has one of these phones.

I was quite interested in this, and I mentioned it to someone who said there is also a company offering a smilar service called 'Skype'.

I'm not really 'up' on this sort of thing, so would anyone know if it's better to go for one or the other, or would anyone be able to give a basic indication as to the pros/cons of using the Tesco phone compared to Skype?

Thanks for any info!

tesco phone is a fairly brutal sounding VoIP service (when my sis rings me from the UK where she has it)

Just signed up for Skype tonight. In fairness, it seems very good so far. For the last 2 hours, I have been making calls to the USA, quality was good if not great (i.e. no complaints from either side of the call), and it cost me 2 euro in total. Go to www.skype.com for info. If you have relatives or family in other countries, you can buy a SkypeIn numbr for 10 euro for 3 month. They can call you at local call prices (i.e. my mom in Philadelphia can call me in Irelanda for free). Basically you can get a telephone number, call waiting, caller id, voicemail etc from this service. Well worth checking out. Calls to Irish landlines are just under 2c per minute. Calls to USA, Australia and most of Europe are also under 2c per min.

I reckon go with Skype out of these two choices, for the simple reason that more people are likely to be signed up for Skype, therefore more people to call for free. Some of the Irish service providers of VOIP offer good value and some advantages over Skype
http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?t=17402&highlight=voip