Skype

[joeSoap]

A friend of mine in the States wants me to get Skype, because she says long distance fone call s are killing her financially and that this is a cheap way of conversing. She said I need to download skype and buy a headset?

Can anyone explain this to me in laymans terms as I am not very up to speed with internet technology?

[osarusan]

Download skype here (for Windows) or on any of a lot of other sites.

Buy a headset (with mic), and a webcam if you want to go very high-tec.

It is simple to install and simple to use.

* System requirements
* PC running Windows 2000, XP or Vista. (Windows 2000 users require DirectX 9.0 for video calls).
* Internet connection (broadband is best, GPRS is not supported for voice calls, and results may vary on a satellite connection).
* Speakers and microphone – built-in or separate.
* For voice and video calls we recommend a computer with at least a 1GHz processor, 256 MB RAM and of course a webcam.
* For High Quality Video calls you will need a high quality video webcam and software, a dual-core processor computer and a fast broadband connection (384 kbps).

[John83]

A friend of mine in the States wants me to get Skype, because she says long distance fone call s are killing her financially and that this is a cheap way of conversing. She said I need to download skype and buy a headset?

Can anyone explain this to me in laymans terms as I am not very up to speed with internet technology?

Skype is for making phone calls using the internet instead of the phone network.

You can download it for free here.

You need a microphone and speakers or earphones. The combo of both is a headset. Example here, but you can get them in any computer store, on ebay, etc.

[Dodge]

so is it completely free (bar internet charges...)?

[osarusan]

so is it completely free (bar internet charges...)?

not everything.

Computer to computer calls are still free, for the moment (although there is talk of introducing charges)

Computer to land line or computer to cellphone costs. I don't know how much.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skype

[declan hide]

piece of cake to set up and use. takes about 5 minutes.

[drummerboy]

I have been using it for a few years to talk to daughter in States. Free computer to computer, even skype calls to international landlines or mobiles are really really cheap. I use an imac which has built in camera and mic. Saves a fortune, and her mother gets to see how her daughter is looking.

[paul_oshea]

voipcheap is one that used to be completely free to phone landline in america:

voipstunt is another one that is still completely free. there is one more that i cant remember that should be still free, i think voipbuster also does free landline calls in the US as well.

if i can remember the one i told my mate to get his mother to call teh states ill post it up

[Docboy]

Anyone know what the deal is with the mobile phones that the 3 network are selling which use skype???

[pete]

We use skype for inter office communication & it is very good. Almost exclusively computer to computer calls & no problems with line quality. The IM feature is good as saves having to install separate application. Dedicated handsets are very cheap now including wireless versions. Not used the video calling much.

You can buy skype credit which can then be used to forward calls to your landline or mobile when away from PC. The caller is not charged.

[joeSoap]

Thanks lads...its deadly. I didn't even need to buy the headset. My laptop must have a built in mike or something cos I only had to talk into it. Just on to someone in the states for 40 mins computer to computer free of charge....