SKYPE

[Lois]

Ok. Just had a friend asking me if I have this.
Had a quick browse around the website but I'm always a bit warey!

Anyone have any experience of it and is it really as good as they say (and really free!)?

[telecat]

It's free between PC's and seems to work fine. Phoning a landline does incur costs tho. The idea works best between PC's connected via broadband.

[miniman]

Yes, it's free for Skype to Skype calls, and they do offer a low cost SkypeOut service for calling other numbers.

Yes, it's good. I use it all the time to call my US office. There is very occasionally a delay on the sound, but no worse than you get from time to time on standard calls to the US. You have to make sure your PC microphone is set up properly, and it works best with a headset (£10 from any PC shop) - you can get a bit of an echo when using speakers.

HTH

[up-the-dubs]

Ryanair recently announced that it would be saving millions a year on international internal phonecalls be moving onto this system in conjunction with AT&T service provider.

Must be pretty good if a large international company has enough faith in it to move wholesale over to it.

[tinman0]

We installed Skype on Saturday and it is fantastic. Very impressed.

My partner was searching for a solution to talk to me cheaply from the states and she came across Skype and tried it. The SkypeIn works really well.

For the people who have no idea what I'm on about, SkypeIn allows you to choose a phone number in any country (that they support) and it terminates on your PC (or where ever your Skype account is logged in for that matter).

They also do cordless handset bases that plug into your PC and terminate on a proper DECT cordless phone, plus the usual headset things, including a fully wireless headset so you can wander around whilst feeding a call through from your PC.

Also, the VOIP quality is excellent and is the best I've ever really listened to.

[planetdave]

good system if set up right.

[UKbob]

Go for it Lois, its big, getting bigger, not been up for long but with stiff competition you'll find it hard to beat

[off_again]

The company I work for uses Skype extensively. Quality is excellent and since almost everyone who works for the company has broadband at home its a real cost saver!

Recommended and if its Skype to Skype its free..... And conference calling is good too....!

[njw 77]

Ive had Skype for a few months now. One catch to watch out for, I believe, is that whilst the call charges are lower than say BT (1.17euros/min iirc), IIRC Skype charge by the minute if using SkypeOut (dialling landlines from your pc) so if you trickle over a minute by a few seconds you end up no better off than BT/sec charging.

Skype to Skype, very good but in my experience the quality of the SkypeOut clarity is not always brilliant.

Ive got the proper handset, iirc(again), found them on the internet cheaper than off Skype's website

[mybrainhurts]

UKbob said:

Go for it Lois, its big, getting bigger, not been up for long but with stiff competition you'll find it hard to beat

Dirty, dirty boy.

Stand in the corner.....

[406]

I use VIOPBuster from www.voipbuster.com/en/index.html

You can dial to landlines FOC if you put 1 euro into your account. There are about 20 countries that you can call including the USA

HTH

Dave

Edited to add :-

Free calls to any regular phone in:

Australia
Austria
Belgium
Canada
China
Czech Republic
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Russia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
United Kingdom
United States


>> Edited by 406 on Monday 25th July 20:47

[RichUK]

We use Skype in our office for conference calls and internal calls when we are working from home.

I was sceptical at first, but have been won over very quickly.

[Wildfire]

Yep, I use Skype all the time. Go for it. Very helpful when a lot of your family is foreign.

[obi]

go for it...

Just finished a 20 minute call to a work mate who is sat in a Hotel in Canada... it cost nothing and the speech quality was perfect...

Have been using for about a year now and no problems.

PS 2.1 million users online as i type

[UKbob]

mybrainhurts said:

UKbob said: Go for it Lois, its big, getting bigger, not been up for long but with stiff competition you'll find it hard to beat Dirty, dirty boy. Stand in the corner.....

I thought the PH collective brain had gone to bed extra early today

[dragonlord]

406 said:

I use VIOPBuster from <a href="www.voipbuster.com/en/index.html">www.voipbuster.com/en/index.html</a> You can dial to landlines FOC if you put 1 euro into your account. There are about 20 countries that you can call including the USA HTH Dave Edited to add :- yea and you can get 2min free calls even without reging properly and buying credit han no end of fun ring up stranger all aroung the world for a chat or a rage depending on time diference add a cloned cable modem and a dogey ip and it makes one hell if a usefull comunication tool. Free calls to any regular phone in: Australia Austria Belgium Canada China Czech Republic Denmark Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Ireland Israel Italy Luxembourg Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Russia Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan United Kingdom United States >> Edited by 406 on Monday 25th July 20:47

[t5-R]

I could be wrong here, but doesn't MSN Mesenger do the same thing, providing both parties are on broadband and you're talking to two computers?

I chat with my parents in Canada all the time via messenger using video conference (we both have webcams), and it's saved us £££'s & $$$'s in phone bills.

[robdickinson]

Does MSN messenger do vois tho, I thought it was just text?

Theres a vid plug in for Skype I think too.

[Lois]

If you have a mic MSN can do audio. Quality can be a bit hit and miss though!

I'm just assuming that skype is better!

[UKbob]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Im probably wrong, but msn does voice, video, text etc, but you cant use it to dial landlines.

Skype is a telephone which costs 1p to call most countries per minute (to landlines) or.. its free like msn when calling other users with skype.