Many of my work-at-home telemarketing agents use Skype because of it’s integration with browsers (“click to dial”), affordability ($3/mo), useful add-ons (call recording, screen sharing, and more), and its instant messaging service.

However, they are now finding Skype doesn’t tolerate their entrepreneurial activities as much as they used to. I don’t know if these are new policies, but Skype users on the “unlimited” plan are limited to 50 different numbers dialed per day. Violating this term will result in the user’s account being switched to per-minute billing, or possible account suspension.

Here’s the response one of my agents just got from Skype about being switched to per-minute billing:

We monitor the use of subscriptions to ensure our fair use policy is followed. Also, if we detect any unusual calling patterns or activity, we may temporarily suspend a subscription. Once the 6 hours per day are reached or 50 different numbers dialed per day are exceeded, Skype will charge normal rates and a connection fee for any additional minutes used until 00.00am GMT of the following day.

A productive TSR (telesales rep) will average 15 to 25 calls an hour. This restriction (50 different numbers/day), effectively limits the agent to around 2 hours of calling a day… not a viable situation.

I used to maintain a page with links to VOIP services and software tools. I’ll look to add that page back to my website soon.

In the meantime, a possible alternative for work-at-home agents might be Magic Jack which does not appear to have home-business-unfriendly restrictions.