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Skype?
Richard Quinn - 26/12/07 at 10:53 PM

Does anyone use Skype? I'm thinking about trying to encourage my daughter to start using it to talk to her mates rather than having the landline handset glued to her ear while she's on MSN/Facebook/Bebo or whatever it is this week.
Is there anything I need to be aware of?

carpmart - 27/12/07 at 06:43 PM

Been using it for several years now and all in all its a pretty good service. Only thing to watch is your phone bills going down!

David Jenkins - 27/12/07 at 07:02 PM

I must admit that although I'm a techie kind of person, I just don't understand how Skype works (how it's set up anyway) and why it's cheaper.

Currently my daughter's living is Sydney, Oz, so any way of reducing the telephone bill is welcome.

trouble is, my primary computer is running Ubuntu...

[Edited on 27/12/07 by David Jenkins]

iank - 27/12/07 at 08:29 PM

quote:
Originally posted by David Jenkins
I must admit that although I'm a techie kind of person, I just don't understand how Skype works (how it's set up anyway) and why it's cheaper.

Currently my daughter's living is Sydney, Oz, so any way of reducing the telephone bill is welcome.

trouble is, my primary computer is running Ubuntu...

[Edited on 27/12/07 by David Jenkins]


Not a problem.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Skype

It'sbasically VOIP and suffers all the problems that brings if the packets don't flow (stuttering speech max headroom stylee) but if the connection is good then it's phone quality.

It's cheaper if you stay on broadband connection for both sides because you don't pay for any phone call. You're generally paying for broadband whether you use it or not in this country.

Skype make their money if you jump off their network onto a normal phone system.

It's also a competent, if not wonderful, instant messaging system.

David Jenkins - 27/12/07 at 09:22 PM

quote:
Originally posted by iank
Not a problem.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Skype



Thanks for that - I'll give it some study (although I'm using an AMD64, and it looks to be a hassle )

cheers,
David

Confused but excited. - 27/12/07 at 09:39 PM

I've used Skype for two years now.
It saved me a fortune when my eldest was working in Beijing, 1.5p/min to call him on a local PAYG mobile.
The vid is slow and refresh rate is crap but still usable, if you want PC to PC vid calls.
I also use it quite a bit to phone the Brother in law in Australia on his land line.
Cheaper than normal phone. if the tight git would get a PC it would be free.

Jasper - 29/12/07 at 03:55 PM

Or use Voipcheap.com - which is even cheaper - free to nearly all landlines abroad .....

David Jenkins - 29/12/07 at 04:43 PM

Call me suspicious, but how do voipcheap.com make money? It seems like something for nothing, as long as you don't exceed their very generous limits...

Basically, what's the catch?

David
(gift-horse oral examiner... )

David Jenkins - 29/12/07 at 07:43 PM

Hmmm.

Worth reading this. It seems that there are many doubts and worries about Betamax, the parent company of VoipCheap.

A very large number of people consider this mob to be a bunch of rip-off artists - try Googling on "Voipcheap.com cheating" for a long list of examples.

Perhaps I'll stick with Skype...