skype... a good thing?
 

has anyone used skype for voice calls both nationally and internationally? i've been thinking about trying it and wanted to hear others opinions.

I use it for international calling from my laptop..works fairly well and if you have a webcam you can use that along with it.

Downloaded and use it for free

My daughter downloaded it before she went on her study abroad this year so that we could talk cheaply. The download was free but she paid $30/yr (as I recall) so that I could use my regular phone to talk to her instead of using a headset with my computer. (She uses a headset with her computer.) We do not use a webcam.
I have been pleasantly surprised by how good the connection is and it's saving us both a ton of money.

We live in the UK but our family lives in the states. My younger family members, college age or so, use Skype to call us and it works great. My in laws can't make it work but I think that's operator error more than anything else!

We've used it extensively, especially to talk with daughter who's studying in Greece this semester. Set up is easy. Best thing since sliced bread!

Actually it's the best thing since someone discovered chocolate!.

You should ask this on the European board. I've heard lots of folks using it over there.

a relative uses it all the time to talk to relatives in South Africa

You need to have a good, high bandwidth connection for Skype to work well.

I've had mixed results when traveling. Sometimes voice quality is great, other times it sounds like darth vadar - it all depends on the internet connection you have.

I've given up on using webcam when traveling - it requires too much bandwidth that I prefer to reserve for voice quality.

For domestic travel I just use my cell phone.

J62: don;t forget, sometimes what goes on on cam is worth much more than words

I use it to speak to my daughter who is in Rome for a semester. it is nice to see her beautiful face once in a while! She uses it every night to talk to her boyfriend, and says that the internet connection is variable but I don't know if she has limited bandwidth in Rome.

We use it almost daily and LOVE it. Our entire family are Skype addicts. We use it to talk to relatives both in other areas of the states as well as overseas. In fact, my 4 year olds were showing their art work to their uncle in Hong Kong just this morning. The grandparents love it most of all as they can talk to and see the grandkids whenever they want. We love it as it is free and also when we travel we can see as well as talk to our kids (assuming they are not with us). We have not had trouble finding internet cafes with skype in other countries which is great (there must have been two or three on every street in each town in Peru we recently visited). Just make sure you have a skype sign in for travel as well as one for home.

I live in Bermuda and we (all my friends and myself) use Skype - I use it to call back to the States, my BF uses it to call England - we call landlines and cell phones mostly, which costs about 2cents/min - so easy to set up, rarely have a call-quality issue - I agree that it is the best thing since sliced bread!!

I LOVE Skype. I used it just the other day to talk to my friend in Paraguay, South America. It was like she was sitting in the room. And for $3.00 USD a month you can get unlimited US/Canada and call to land line and mobile phones. Skype has won me over completely! Its clear and intuitive in everyway.

We've been using Skype to call our son in Germany, and the voice quality has been excellent. The price, at 2.1 cents per minute is petty good, too.

Last time we did a webcam, we had trouble with the voice cutting in and out, so our makeshift solution was to have our son (who gets free calls to the US) call us on the phone, and we just used the compter for the video.

Skype is great - I used it for the first time in Italy this year calling home - $.06 per minute vs. $1.25 per minute on my cell phone...still not perfect, but for that price it far beats the alternative options!

A quick question...when do you pay? Skype has always been free for us. Is it if you call someone who doesn't have skype then do you pay?
taitai

Yes, when you call a landline or cell phone, then you have to pay (unless someone can tell me otherwise, which would be even better!) For example, when I call my spouse at work during the day...otherwise, you are correct, at home we both use Skype and it is free.

With a 7 hour time difference, it isn't always easy to catch a person at home when it is a reasonable time of day in Europe.

Got it. We are all on Skype so it is all free for us.

taitai

My wife and I use it to video call my family whom are all over the US. I rarely talk to my two sisters over the phone any more and can see my two toddler nieces in Florida(we are in Colorado). My niece will never know a world without video phone...It allows us to watch her grow up and know who we are as well. Have not tried it on an over seas connection but have used it from all over the US. You need a broad band connection to use it. Video can be choppy during high web usage periods. I personally have not experienced and audio issues but do see video problems. You can shut off the video and just send the audio only.

We only use the free version/options.

We love it!

];')

Use Skype at least three or four times a week to talk to our daughter who is living in Ohio. We live in New Zealand. We use a webcam as well and it's great. We get a good picture as well as voice quality. We did invest in a really good quality webcam and it's amazing how clear it is.

We also video call our son, daughter-in-law, and grandson in Wellington New Zealand. Suprisingly the reception is not as good when we are talking to them as I think the transmission actually goes via the US before it comes back to Wellington.

I am eternally grateful for Skype.

DH and I are living in Amsterdam for a year, DS, a new college grad, is in Washington, DC and DD is in Paris for a junior-year-abroad. My family and friends are all over the States. It is so wonderful (and cheap) to be able to talk to everybody whenever we want for as long as we want. Sometimes it's computer-to-computer, which is free, sometimes it's computer to phone which costs about 3 cents a minute.

You can set up an automatic debit from your credit card or whatever, so your Skype account is automatically "topped up" whenever it gets low, so you never have to worry about running out of calling time in the middle of a call or anything.

My Mac laptop has a built-in webcam and we love being able to see who we're talking to. It came in handy recently before DS's first job interview when I could see that he needed a haircut and was able to nag him about same (just because we're an ocean away doesn't mean I can neglect my motherly duties). And even better, the webcam enabled me to see him rolling his eyes when I told him to get a haircut. Made me feel right at home! ;->

We use it for EVERYTHING. It has been really helpful in conducting our various mortgage, bank, insurance, etc. calls back to the States. Since we are only over here for a year, we have all those household business type issues still to deal with back home, and I have to say if I was paying international rates to be on hold with my mortgage company for 15 minutes, I wouldn't have any money left to pay the mortgage. With Skype I can conduct all my stateside household business calls for free - you can use it to call 800 numbers in the States.

Anyway, use it! You won't regret it.

Love it! Chatted with my DH when I was in Carriacou this summer and he was at home. So nice to see him and my house too!

Yesterday morning my 21 month old grandson gave me a high five to start the morning, then ran and brought me his new tennis shoes to show me. He lives in St Pete, we live in San Antonio. Agreed, the very best thing since sliced bread, especially in this age where families are scattered all around the world!

How did we ever live without it? We live in FL use it to see and talk to family and friends in Hungary, The Netherlands, Russia. Great way to stay in touch with those far or near. Sometimes when I am on, I see my mom or sis are on and I just Skype them. Mom lives 5 minutes away.

Downloaded for free, we did however upgrade to the extra speakers on the main computer. Works wonderfully on my Acer Aspire One. Built in camera and mic.

I could not imagine how much money we have saved skyping instead of phoning.

thanks everyone, we're going to give it a try!

same here!

Don't razz me, but would Idiscontinue using my Vonage and use Skype instead? Vonage is also extremely cheap to call Europe - around 6 cents or less I think. Besides the video option, what's the difference between the two?

Great thread!

Friends of mine who tend to live in usual places rave about it. So I guess it's time for me to sign up too. But can anyone give me some background on the service? Like what's in it for the service provider? Or is it really a humanitarian contribution to the way we live know.

Call me a cynic but there must be a catch...

It is free, afterall. Just download the program. The only time payment comes in (I think) is when you are using skype phones or calling actual phones, not computers. What we are talking about is calling computer to computer. Both of you must have skype on your computers to use the system. It actually sounds like a phone ringing on your computer when someone calls, and there's an icon to click to answer. I don't know what they get out of it. It's certainly something I'd pay for if it weren't free!

Here's the url which should have all the info you need to get started. http://skype.com/