AOL Offers Free Phone Calls on Mother’s Day Weekend

[Jeff]

Call Your Mom, Call Your Friend’s Mom, Even Call Your Mother-in-Law, All for Free Using the AIM Call Out Service

DULLES, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As a special gift this Mother’s Day weekend, AOL announced that calls made using the AIM Call Out service (http://call.aim.com) on Saturday, May 10 and Sunday, May 11 will be free. Users must set up an AIM Call Out account and add at least $5 in non-refundable call credit to get started. Users can then make as many calls as they want to more than 200 countries and will still have $5 to spend at the end of the free calls weekend.

WHEN: Users can make free calls between 6 a.m. EDT on Saturday, May 10^th and 4 a.m. EDT on Monday, May 12^th.

HOW: Users must have a free AIM screenname and use version 6.5 or higher of the AIM service which can be downloaded for free at http://www.aim.com. Once users launch AIM they just click on the telephone icon at the base of the AIM Buddy List to get started.
Users can talk with their moms using a headset or with a microphone and speakers. Users can also make phone-to-phone calls using the Web Connect feature within AIM Call Out. Users simply enter their phone number and then the phone number of their mom. In a few seconds, their phone will ring and then connect them to their mom’s phone.¹

RESTRICTIONS: Users will not be able to make free calls for the duration of the promotion to Myanmar, Ghana, Egypt, Brunei, Comoros, Croatia, Morocco, Oman and Zaire. Users will continue to be charged for calls to satellite services including Inmarsat, Thuraya and Iridium.

About the AIM Call Out Service
AIM Call Out is a pay-as-you-go outbound voice calling service built right into AIM that lets users make calls to landline and mobile phones. AIM Call Out offers low per-minute rates with no connection fee or monthly charge. Users pay for call credits in increments as low as $5. For a listing of long distance rates AIM users can visit http://call-out.aim.com/rates.

[DekaBreak]

LOL... well, it really isn't "free".. more like $5 max.

[Yahooligan]

But if you already have an AIM Call Out account, it is free. If you don't then you are absolutely right, DekaBreak.

[David]

People use this service? That's so lame that you have to sign up for credit, I'd have given it a shot otherwise, but now I won't.

[Fanatic]

Well it's no different from the services offered on Skype, WLM and Yahoo! Messenger. They all require you purchase "credit" towards phone calls to landlines and mobiles before you place calls.

Of course, if mom has a PC, you could make a PC-to-PC call on any of these systems for free.