New Skype pricing structure...price hikes for SkypeOut

Jaanus, over at the Skype blog gives some further explanation of Skype's new pricing structure.  You may have seen this before, but there has apparently been a  lot of rumor and opinion circulating as to what it all means.  Here's a recap from Jaanus:

• As of January 18, a connection fee of 0.039 € or equivalent applies to SkypeOut calls after the fifth second, with the exception in the next two bullets.
• The connection fee does not apply if you are on the Skype Unlimited plan in the US or Canada, or Talk for Britain plan in the UK.
• The connection fee doesn’t apply to toll-free calls. You can do toll-free calls without having any Skype Credit or paying anything.
• The following regions were added to our Global Rate of 0.017 € per minute: Czech Republic, Guam, Hungary, Israel, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Puerto Rico and both Alaska and Hawaii in the United States.
• We are working on our new Skype Pro offering that, among other things, will have domestic SkypeOut calling in a number of countries with a connection fee but no per-minute charges. You can sign up to receive more info by e-mail, and it will of course be here on the blog. No date yet, but I think it’s safe to say we will speak more about Skype Pro in weeks, rather than months.
• Nothing changed in the structure of our other prices (Voicemail, SkypeIn, or free Skype-to-Skype).

 

If I'm reading this correctly, I'll now have to pay $.74 per minute to call Kosovo mobile phone (.039+.0354=.0744).  That's significantly higher than what I was paying a year ago to SkypeOut a colleague's mobile phone.

If I'm not mistaken that's now significantly higher than a run-of-the-mill long-distance card from a retail warehouse store (Sams, Costco, etc.)  If memory serves, and I can't find the data on the Sams Club site, I used to pay around $.50 / minute from the US to a Kosovo mobile (which are routed through Morocco for technical reasons.)

If you've been using Skype for US-to-foreign calls you may want to check your rates.  Rates to the countries mentioned above are now apparently cheaper, but prices to the off-the-beaten-track places look like they're going up.