Recently I have been short a cell phone and have been using my PlayStation Portable (PSP) 3000 model as a Skype phone.

The service is cheap and effective, though some precautions that I did not know may be useful for anyone else sporting the idea. The PSP 3000 model comes well equipped for this type of service with a built in microphone and fairly decent speakers that make for instant, out of the box use. Out of the box the PSP 3000 can connect to Skype and–after a simple, free, account creation–can call anyone else on Skype, no matter where they are for free provided you have access to a WiFi network. However, given you make a phone like me you can also subscribe or pay for credits from Skype to make it a bit more useful. You can actually call regular phones anywhere in a given area for a relatively low price. I spent eight dollars on a three month contract that allows me to call anyone in the Canada-US range. Impressive. Less efficiently one can alternatively buy individual credits like minutes and use them, but I have yet to take that venue. Now, there are cons to using this cheap and effective service. One is that it requires a WiFi connection, making the viability of receiving calls or replacing a current main phone out of the question, though you can arrange to buy a phone number for your Skype. The other con is that Voice over IP (voice over internet, or VOIP), even through a reliable service like Skype, has an echo effect for the one receiving the call on a normal phone that is aggravating and halting. After all is said I find I only use my new phone on close friends and family, choosing carefully who I inflict this echo-y goodness on. Users be warned and informed.