Call me any time (Skype)

Member Name: SugarSpun

Product:	Skype
Date:	14/09/09 (36 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Free, easy to use, cheap

Disadvantages: Call quality

Skype's one of the most widely used Voice Over IP programs out there, allowing the user to talk to people anywhere in the world either to their computer or to their phone line. It's free to download and takes a matter of minutes, isn't greedy in the amount of memory it takes up and is incredibly useful. Installation and use is incredibly simple - my technophobe mother is a keen user, and if she can manage it anyone can.

After the 10-15 minute download time, you have the option to add credit to your account. The addition of credit allows calls to be made to actual telephones, but without credit you can still talk to someone else's computer. Call charges to landlines are extremely cheap - less than 1p/minute to the US and most of Europe - but mobile calls are significantly more expensive and premium rate numbers are not accessible.

A chat feature is also available, which is useful if you don't have a microphone (these are easy and inexpensive to buy but not essential for chatting - if you want to actually talk you'll need one though. Skype sells handsets and such, but a cheap no-name one will do the same job so long as it's compatible with your computer).

What's also useful is the video call feature - with a webcam you can let the person on the other end of the call see you. This has been invaluable to us because we live far from my family and I just had a baby, so the proud grandparents get to look at their granddaughter over the computer and not feel so left out.

I also use the conference feature a lot for work, since the researchers in my project are spread out over a number of universities. It only works for computer-to-computer calls, but we've had a maximum of four people at any one time (I don't know if it supports more) and it's worked great.

Aside from the cost of calls, Skype's paid services include SkypeIn, which gives you a phone number so people can call you (you choose the country and area code), a voicemail service, and a flat rate charge for unlimited calls within a specific country.

All in all, this is a great service. The major downsides are technical ones:

- calls are sometimes dropped, and it can be hard to call back
- about a third of the time, when you finish a call, Skype forces the internet window you're working on to go to a customer satisfaction survey, so if you were typing you lose whatever was in the window
- call quality is not always the best, leading to situations of, Hello? Hello? Can you hear me? that are best avoided if possible.

Having said that, this is a free program that allows you to keep in touch with people all over the world, and that's pretty wonderful. I recommend it.

Summary: Fantastic service with a few slight technical problems.

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