Internet Phone Service
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Internet Phone Service
March 2007
We're in the very early stages of thinking about getting a
videophone setup (or whatever it's called when you attach a
camera to your computer), and I'd be curious to know if anyone
has experience with this. It's basically for grandparents (no
surprise!) and perhaps other relatives, and we might try
combining it with Skype or some similar web-based phone system.
Any thoughts/recommendations out there?
trying to keep the generations connected
We use Skype all the time to call Europe for FREE. You can call
anywhere for FREE; both parties just need to have a speaker and
microphone hooked up to their computer. We use a cheap headset
w/ microphone that we got at Office Depot. We also have a
webcam set up to the computer and it's really easy to use. My
friend's 70 year old mother uses Skpe. Skype makes its money
through an upgraded service they offer, but the basic calling
computer to computer is free and the quality when calling
overseas is far superior than a regular telephone and w/out
that annoying delay. I don't understand Americans' hesitation
in using Skype, the rest of the world has been using it for
years.
anon
Jan 2007
We are considering downloading Skype (internet calling) in an
effort to reduce our international telephone bill. Does anyone
have experience using this? Is it easy? Are there downsides? Is
anyone using it for national/local calls? I am interested in
any and all experiences with this. Thanks!
JOJ
Skype has been great for us. We use it to mainly talk to family in Asia who have
computers and have downloaded skype too. Every once in a while we have some lag
time but not much. We do family conferences on it too. I've found that it's not that
reliable when using it for computer to land lines or cell phones. Especially if the
quality of the line of the person you're calling is kind of crappy. We've found that when
we call our friend in India, there is lots of lag time and sometimes the voice sounds
muffled. So computer to computer calls are terrific, computer to land/cell lines are ok
to bad.
Since it's free, it should be a no brainer on whether or not to
download Skype. It's super easy and idiot proof to use. Did I
mention it's free? Just do it and you'll see how easy it is to
use. The only thing is other person you're calling has to have
it too. My friend's 70 year old mother in Spain even uses it.
For the life of me I can't figure out why Americans haven't
gotten into the groove of using Skype; Europeans can be so much
more ahead of us on some technology. Everyone in Europe uses
it, even businesses. It's so easy to send files while you're
chatting, and you can set up a webcam too to see each other
while talking. The line quality is far superior than a regular
telephone, and you don't have the annoying delay you sometimes
get on the phone. Skype sounds too good to be true, but they
actually make their money on an expanded service plan that
costs $ each month. In the meantime enjoy FREE phone service!
anon
Aug 2005
Has anyone used ''SKYPE'' ? Skype is a little program for making
free calls over the internet, either free or at a very low rate.
Seems ideal to reduce cost of my very lenghly overseas calls....
also seem to good to be true.
Anyone uses it? any catches? things to be wary of?
Thank you
Calls-a-lot
We used Skype while my husband was on an extended European trip.
We downloaded it for free, and there was no charge for our
computer-to-computer calls. It worked fine. We just had to buy a
headset for his laptop, since we already had a cheap microphone
and speakers at home. The free version only works if both
parties are at the computer, I believe. They also have a version
that calls a telephone directly, but I think they charge for that
(don't know how much). We did have to schedule calls ahead of
time (by e-mail), since our computers aren't on all the time.
R.K.
I haven't used SKYPE but I just want to put in a good word for www.onesuite.com.
It's a regular phone card-type service that you sign up for on the internet.
The long distance rate to anywhere in the 48 states is 2.5 cents. And many
international calls are even lower!!! 2.2 cents per minute to England! 3 cents a
minute to Germany, 3.5 cents a minute to Israel. No extra connection charges, no
other fees unless you are using a payphone. I have heard that SKYPE requires both
people to have the service; onesuite is usable anytime, to anywhere.
Ann
We use Skype. My husband uses it all the time to talk with
colleagues in Europe. It's great because it's free and if you
want to, you can list whether you're available or not, so people
know whether or not to call you. The sound quality sometimes
isn't perfect, but other than that, we haven't had problems with
it. Give it a try and see if you like it!
Karen
I work with a guy who lives in Oregon, and we sometimes use Skype
to talk, especially if we need to include a third person in the
conversation. The main reason we use Skype is because it's free.
I find it more awkward than a phone conversation - you're not
sure whose turn it is to talk, so there are pauses as you wait to
see if the other person has finished talking. Also there can be
sound glitches - one time I was talking to him and everytime
someone opened the door into his office there would be an
unpleasant buzzing on the line. But hey, it's free.
I needed to get a microphone for my PC to use Skype, but my
laptop has one built in so it was easy to set up Skype on that.
The other thing is that Skype wants to run in the background all
the time in case someone tries to call you, and it uses a lot of
CPU, at least on my PC, at times slowing everything down to a
crawl. Since I don't use Skype that often, and we usually arrange
calls ahead of time by email, I found it irritating to be exiting
out of it all the time to keep it from taking over all the cycles
on my machine. (I'm sure there's a way to fix that - too lazy to
look for it.)
Ginger
My husband uses SKYPE pretty frequently and I've heard him rave
about it a number of times. He calls the UK and a coworker
calls China w/no problems. According to him, ''the clarity
rocks''. He suggests getting a headset, but says his laptop
microphone and speaker work pretty well too. Computer to
computer calls are free. Computer to mobile/landline (skype-
out) costs money and mobile/landline to computer (skype-in)
costs money too
annie
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