Skype Offering Free New Year's Wi-Fi in NYC

The VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) provider is teaming up with Towerstream to offer free Wi-Fi in Manhattan from noon on Dec. 31 to noon on Jan. 1. Users will be able to make free Skype-to-Skype calls or use Skype credit to call landlines or cell phones or just browse the Web.

To connect, make sure you have the latest version of Skype installed on your PC, Mac, or iOS device and select the "Skype Wi-Fi" network.

2011 was an eventful year for the VoIP service, which was acquired by Microsoft in May for $8.5 billion. That deal received approval in the U.S. from the Federal Trade Commission in June and from EU regulators several months later, officially becoming part of Redmond in October. For more, see PCMag's year in review of Microsoft.