Skype - Newburgh,IN

My boss uses skype all the time. He loves it. No hidden fees, very inexpensive. They actually bought the skype phone and use it as their home phone. They use it to make conference calls all over the world. He is an attorney so you know he has looked at all the fine print! I believe they have had it for well over a year at home.

I don't use it a lot because I don't have a webcam, but I do have one friend that I talk with and they have a cam. So, you can use it one sided. For instance, if grandparents have a webcam, you can see them. It is great. My friends also use it to talk to their families in Australia, so the technology is really good.

i love skype. From computer to computer it is free. If you use to to call regular phone numbers or text, it charges you. The regular computer calls are awesome, the video is tempermental with me sometimes.

Hi S.,

My family lives out of town and we use Skype all the time. It is really easy and totally free! Once you are on there it is pretty self explanatory. I highly recommend it!

A.

Hey S.. I'm not sure about the fees, but I have used it once before (I do not have a webcam or a laptop with one). My brother, however, uses it a lot, for family and business. If he uses it, it is almost guaranteed cost efficient and useful. I also have no family in state. So I need to make the jump and start using it myself, but I would say it is a good idea.

we use skype! i love it! our family lives in mass and nh so we use it as much as we can. luke loves looking at their faces on the computer screen too. it's easy to use and is free. i don't know about the set-up, my husband did that part, but i am able to use it on my own! :)

We use Skype to stay in touch with the in-laws in Virginia. You and the person you are communicating with both need to have a webcam to do the video calls . As long as you are doing video calls, it is free. It is easy to use, free, and a great way to keep your kids in touch with family out of town. My mother-in-law reads books to my 2 year old son. It's great. The video is a little grainy, but there is no sound delay, so its easy to have a conversation. I would definitely recommend it.

S.,
I use Skype to keep in touch with in in-laws in Canada. They winter in Mexico so we use it when they are there also. I've never incurred any charges with Skype. You simply download and can start using it with another party who has it downloaded. At times, depending on how busy it is, you'll have to dial several times to get a good connection. You just have to keep hanging up and redialing until both parties can hear each other and there is no static. It can get frustrating, however, it is totally free. We've also used cameras to see each other while talking. That feature seems to be a 'hit or miss' at times. Sometimes it works great and other times, only one side could see the other. It's definately worth trying as it can save you some long distance charges. Hope this helps!

S.,
It is very easy to use and it is totally free. I use it at least 3 times a week to talk to my family and I have never had a problem. My whole family uses it. I would highly recommend it.

I just recently downloaded Skype and it was VERY simple to use! My friend in MO (I'm in OH) and I talked just like we were in the same room, face to face, for close to 1/2 hour. it was pretty awesome! As far as I can tell, computer to computer is FREE. But if you call a telephone, or a cell phone from your computer, that's when the charges start.
Download it! It's awesome!

Hi S.
I've been using skype for a few month now. I'm paying $26.95 every 3 month for skype world. i call my family and friends in Germany for as much and as long as I want to with this plan. I decided to try it, because the cable company charged me $ 12.00 one month. Its paying off so far. I call my friend whenever I want to and whenever I just want to ask a question. My husband bought me a skype box, you hook it up to the computer and then have to configure it. After that you can make calls from your regular house phone. You just pick up the phone wait for a dial tone press * wait for a different dialtone press the phone number you want to call wait a couple of seconds and press #.
Or you highlight the numbers on the computer in your skype account and dial it from there after you pressed the *key.
The quality is pretty good and I didn't have any problems, but thst I have been disconnected twice. But I'm not sure if that was the person I talked to or the phone.
Hope this helped.
M.

Yes, very easy to use. My brother recently moved to Brazil. We talk to him on Skype all the time. It's nice.

I use skype to call overseas and I love it. There are no fees If you call from computer to computer. There are other things you can set up such as call from your computer to a landline or set up a phonenumber for your computer and people with landlines can call you etc. but both of those have cost associated with them. I have a camera on my computer so my friends and family can see me when I talk to them, really cool especially if you have children. In my case my parents can see their grandchildren on a regular basis.

We love Skype! We use it to keep in touch with out of town family. My 2 1/2 year old tells Grandpa to "skype" her so she can see him. Sometimes a slow internet connection can make the picture choppy, but it is totally free and fun!

I absolutely love Skype. It's free to call other people from your computer, over the internet, to another computer. You can also call cell phones and land lines on a pre-paid program for like ONE CENT a minute. There is great reception and no cost to use their software. I've held business meetings using Skype. They even have open source affiliate software programs on their application for holding meetings, whiteboard, sending pictures, etc. Many of them are free as long as you have less than 15 or 20 on the phone and meeting at the same time. It's super easy to use. You just go to skype.com, sign up, then download the software, log in. The application menu looks similar to that of Yahoo and Hotmail. You have the same options of sending instant messages. To use computer to computer phone calls, both parties have to be a skype user. However, if only YOU have the skype service, then you can call from your computer to their cell or land line for about ONE CENT a minute.

For example, I called a business consultant in the United Kingdom several times. We talked over the internet, computer to computer, both skype users, didn't cost us a cent. A couple calls lasted about 30 minutes and one lasted over an hour. If I would have used my cell phone, I would have paid about $2.50 per minute or would have been required to upgrade my phone plan.

I do suggest investing in a headset with microphone. You can find a decent one for about $20. I bought a $60 headset with microphone, and the only difference I find is that the more expensive one is more comfortable to wear over long periods of time. You can buy a headset practically anywhere, Wal-Mart, Meijers, any electronics store, etc. I even found them at pharmacies.

I found that the speakers on my laptop would make my voice sound echo-y to the listener. It sounded fine on my end though. I had perfect reception. No breaks or static on the line.... especially for such a long distance call. Often calling internationally or to Hawaii, my cell sounds as if the person is standing really far from their phone as they talked. I can hear and understand people much better over the internet than my cell phone.

You can also add a video cam to your computer and then you can see the person you are talking to. I have used that for business and school. I love Skype!

It is easy to use. We use to for webcamming with our family. As far as I know it is a free service and we have not been charged. My only warning is there are spam webcam invites. You can choose to block the senders and decline the invite when they come up. Good luck! We have really enjoyed using it.

Dowload it, you'll love it. I'm computer illiterate and I figured it out! It's a great way to see family all over the country and you can even just type (chat) to them if you wanted.

I used Skype to communicate with my daughter while she studied in Spain for a semester. Easy to use! I did have to take steps to foil contacts from other unknown users with sexually explicit greetings who attempted to communicate with me. Yuck!

We use Skype at least twice/week so our little one can "talk" to her grandparents who are all in other states and it is FANTASTIC! Plus my husband and I can talk to friends in other states, even in other countries, all for free! All you pay for is the webcam (if you don't already have one) and then you can download Skype for free. And it's totally free to call computer to computer - other calls do cost money (ie computer to cell or land line).

Hope that helps, feel free to ask any other specific questions & I'll do my best to help you out. :)

Hi S.. I LOVE Skype. All of my family is out of town, and computer-computer is free to use and really easy! I recently went to Japan for 2 weeks and loved that I could still call and see my husband and kids while I was gone. I highly recommend this program!

I agree with everyone else...it's pretty easy to use (some not so tech savy grandparents have needed some tutorial) and free.

I would comment, and this is probably true of all webcam programs, if you have it built in to your laptop or desktop, it is much faster and clearer. We have the best luck when both participants have the webcam in their moniters.

We use skype when we are out of the US to talk with friends and family. It's great! One warning though. When we were recently in Latin America, I thought using a webcam to talk with our 2 year old daughter who was staying with my brother's family would help her not miss us so much. Up until we got to where we could use the webcam she was fine talking with us without the webcam (just voice). However seeing us on the webcam, she didn't understand that she couldn't touch us, and cried saying she wanted a hug and kiss!!! It was hard for us and for her!!! So we went back to only using voice-to-voice.

Ditto. Talk to friends and family in US and abroad.

We use the free version of skype to connect with my parents in Pennsylvania via video conferencing. I know they have different plans some which do have a fee. But for our use there is no fee and it was easy to install and we have really enjoyed it! The kids love to see their grandparents and the grandparents are so excited to be able to connect with their grandchildren this way.

It is also very easey to change your settings so that you don't get those "spam" calls that one responder talked about. You can allow only those in your phone book to call you.