Skype 2.8 arrives for Mac OS X

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 21 July 2009 07:52

Opinion and Analysis

A new version of Skype for Mac is the first official release to support screen-sharing and paid Wi-Fi access.

Skype 2.8 for Mac OS X contains some of the new features that appeared in version 4.1 for Windows, which was launched at the end of last month. These include screen sharing and improved sound and video.

While Mac users sometimes feel like second class citizens in the Skype world (eg, birthday reminders are back in version 4.1 for Windows, but not 2.8 for Mac), they are the first to be able to charge Wi-Fi access to their Skype accounts.

Skype Access, which first appeared in the 2.8 beta, grants access to Wi-Fi hotspots at "close to 100,000 locations worldwide". Skype doesn't say exactly where, only that they are in places such as airports, hotels and coffee shops.

But if you dig around on the company's web site, you'll discover that Skype Access is powered by Boingo. You can explore that company's coverage map here.

Melbourne seems to be the best served city in Australia, with 228 locations compared with 47 in Sydney and 50 in Brisbane. Central Melbourne hotspots include cafes, hotels and the Crown complex.

Boingo's casual rate is normally $US7.95/$A9.77 for 24 hours at a single hotspot. Monthly plans cost $US9.95/$A12.23 plus $US0.12/$A0.15 or $US0.18/$A0.22 per minute when connecting outside the Americas, or a flat $US59/$A72.53 per month for global access.

This makes Skype Access's rate of €0.14 per minute ($US0.20/$A0.24) reasonable for casual use outside the Americas.

Of course, there are free hotspots in many towns and cities, whether they are completely free or free to customers. But if all you can find is a pay-to-play connection, charging it to your Skype account can be cheaper and more convenient than buying a block of time that you'll never use up.

And if on-the-spot payment is a better deal, you lose nothing by not using Skype Access.

Download the latest version of Skype for Mac here.