How would you like a multi-line 800 number? Just about for free. Maybe multiple 800 numbers placed in strategic geographical places around the globe for your customers to call you for free and you pay all most nothing.

If you have a SkypeIn account and the latest Skype 4 Windows beta with Call Forwarding then you already have that 800 number! 1.4.0.56 (get it here)
Yes, you read correctly... one SkypeIn number handles multiple concurrent callers!

And since you can now use Skype’s Call Forward function, these additional calls (up to three) can be handed off to other Skype Clients or devices: mobile phones, landlines or to your businesses PBX .

You will pay SkypeOut rates for calls forwarded to non-Skype IDs. Tomorrow I will show how these 4 to 8 of these calls can be passed for free to your company’s PBX.

This has some neat possibilities! Once connected to your PBX you can handle unlimited calls at no cost per call.

Skype announced Call Forwarding and added it to their latest Windows beta 1.4. I've been experimenting with it. It doesn't take long to try out, there aren't that many features to it. Compared to iSkoot and Jyve, Skype's call forwarding has two quasi benefits. 1) it works when your Skype is offline, and 2) it lets your buddies know when offline with a presence icon that you are in call forward mode.

Note the additional icons. The blue call-forwarding icon and the green this-is-an-incoming-forwarded-call. Note: you don't know who the forwarded call was from (a potential problem). Similarly, callers who find their calls forwarded don't know who might answer. The ring tone remains the same, there is no audio signal that something is different. In this example I forwarded skypejournal to ring my Skype ID.

Skype Call Forwarding

• Is available to all Skypers using the beta 1.4
• forwards inbound Skype calls (from Skypers or on SkypeIn) to any other buddy account or phone number. When forwarded to landline or mobile it will cost you SkypeOut minutes. In some countries know what your rates are!
• works even if you don't have a SkypeOut account. You can forward an inbound call to another Skype buddy or account.
• will automatically forward calls not answered after four rings even when skype remains active. If you send it to a cellphone which answers it will take the voice mail. If the forwarded call doesn't answer then it will revert to your Skype voice mail if you have it.
• may forward and ring up to three numbers. Additional numbers don't appear to be rung sequentially, rather all at the same time.

Things you can't do on call forwarding.

• forwarded calls won't go to your skype friend's voice mail.
• similarly a forwarded call cannot be forwarded on by the buddy you have forwarded it to.
• voice messages also aren't forwarded which makes sense as they aren't meant for you buddy.
• no control over what names you can forward. This should be done by contract groups.
• no control over SkypeIn and forwarding.
• there is no notification via text to another Skyper that their call is being forwarded.

Are there still issues. You bet.

• For a Skyper the person that they are calling remains visible. It is easy to miss that the person they are calling to is a call forward. Example the caller places a call to an offline account (eg from a directory search), the call is forwarded to another Skype buddy at no charge. The buddy who answers gets a minor blue forward signal on the picture. The identity of who the caller is forwarding to is preserved. There are pluses and minuses to this strategy.
• I'd like to be able to turn call forwarding on and off from my SkypeIn number. I'd also like to be able to get voice messages by dialing in to my SkypeIn account.
• I may not want to give out my phone or cell number. So setting call forwarding and not releasing that info is appropriate. However, the caller may need to know it is being forwarded. It may not be explicit enough.
• leaves open the opportunity for abuse. I open a junk alias and add in three buddy names I want to harass. If the name is attractive (even left on in Skype Me mode) they could be in for a rude set of calls. The result could force me to increase my privacy settings.

Some things Skypers will start experimenting with.

Call Forward and the Small Office: Open a Skype account with your company name. Buy a SkypeIn number or even multiple numbers. Then forward to three Skypers (you can see a work groups account coming here can't you!) Any one of the four can answer the calls. For some companies you could forward multiple Skype International numbers to your PBX number. If you are in one of Skype's 30 flat rate countries this could be interesting.

Global Calls to Mobile: Even if your wife doesn't use Skype you can set up an account for her and forward calls to her mobile from whereever you are in the world for almost nothing. She doesn't even have to know how you did it.

Aliases: Set up aliases and then set them to call forward. Your identity is masked on inbound calls while the other person's is visible to you (which could be an alias too). The only thing missing is the presence data for your alias. Still with tags when SkypeWeb launches this possibility will be close.

Test...

Ring my SkypeIn number that is forwarded to another Skype account that doesn't have voice mail or anything. Let it ring. It finally does go back to my Skype account voice mail. It did take a lot of rings. I'd note too that the original inbound number said "Vonage" and then on the call forward it provided an accurate caller ID phone number.

Skype has an online survey up. It's all about habits and practices - but there seems to have been little thinking on and stretch in terms of options, scales, wants and wishlists. It's not well designed, poorly structured, with many gaps in areas covered, and no real behavioural information being collected. A wasted opportunity!

Just because online surveys are simple doesn't mean they shouldn't be well thought out. It's also more dangerous to have information that is incomplete or poorly collected than to have no information at all. Unfortunately many organisations fall into this trap. There is down and dirty research -- this is not it.

Breaking down the survey to understand the gaps further, there are problems in several areas :

1. Areas of Coverage :

* No demographic profiling - age, gender, income, etc - to contextualise responses

* Inadequate coverage of Skype's offerings - what about conference calling, chat and multi-chat, Skype on PDA's, Skype API, forums - areas of satisfaction and problems with them? For instance, how many have made a conference call with SkypeOut - one problem could be tackling DTMF tones

* No behavioural information of depth and value like buddy lists, minutes and hours spent on each feature, how many failed calls, what percentage is acceptable, what percentage local vs international calls, whether Skype is set to a call-centric or chat-centric mode, etc

* No developer products included : video chat, presence servers, outlook import, other plugins. These form a vital part of the total offering from a customer's point of view, and make the Skype experience richer - it would have been interesting to study awareness, usage and motivations for them.

* No feature comparisons with other products competing in the same space from a user's perspective - IM, other VOIP offerings, even landlines and cell phones - resulting in answers in a vacuum without benchmarks and best-in-class standards that always make responses so much more reliable and meaningful, particularly when satisfaction is involved. For instance, would you say your Skype billing experience is better than or worse than your current cellular provider? Landline carrier? Amazon? Other? NA? What's your best billing experience online?

* Very little space offered for opportunities to improve

* Even less on what Skype really means to users today and how is it changing the way they communicate, impact on their communication behaviour and habits.

* Branding and positioning issues - how is Skype positioned in the customer's mind? What associations, what image, what relationship, strength of stickiness and loyalty? I know Skype is beginning to think of brand - and that's a great step. I also hope that they remember the brand is not just what the company communicates, but as it rests in user's minds and hearts and leaves it imprints. I'd have loved to see some brand-related questions here.

2. Questionnaire design and structure:

* Options and choices (dropdown boxes) provided seem inadequate in most areas. The connection speed options are not customer friendly. Reasons for using don't include - for business, for travel, for connecting with family abroad etc. Another instance:

Why did you start using Skype Voicemail? (check all that apply)

Thought it was cool

Wanted to save money

Wanted to call people abroad

Other

These options make little sense in the context of voicemail - none of the potential reasons for using Voicemail are listed in the options. It seems like these questions have been dumped blindly from the earlier SkypeOut section.

* Areas for improvement in all sections are left as an open-ended space; some amount of stimulus for thought might have been provided for generating more meaningful suggestions. For instance, for Voicemail, there are so many possiblities - from saving copies to sending group messages or not having to listen to your message for the 5th time when sending.

* Scale used for satisfaction - the 3-point scale : very satisfied-satisfied-not satisfied again doesn't really offer up much - first, there aren't enough gradations to really determine satisfaction to make it a good customer service scale and second, satisfaction must always be measured against perceived benchmarks, without which it can be meaningless.