Skype. Anyone using it?

[Cyndi B.]

Does anyone use Skype?

[CindyL]

All the time to talk to our kids and granddaughter. Google Hangouts is cool too.

CindyL

[carlkeigley]

My wife and daughter use it to keep in touch with the grandkids.

[Jon Vermilye]

Since my daughter and family are in Botswana, it saves a lot on phone calls!

Gets a little iffy on slow connections, but it works.

[Cyndi B.]

Thanks! Don't have any grand kids (can you buy those?) to look at. Due to lack of employment opportunities and time my husband has returned to Montana to work in the oil fields. He suggested getting Skype. I will eventually join him but am still healing and we need to find a place where I can have my girls (I hope they are all girls). This has been our life pretty much the last four years, him in one place, me holding the fort down. No plans to sell our little paradise and I anticipate no problems getting employment once there.

[carlkeigley]

He's right Cyndi, you'd like the Skype.

[Cyndi B.]

Good!! I am dragging my wheelchair driver out to Wally World to get a webcam.

[Thomas G.]

I used it on a recent visit to Peru. Most hotels have internet wifi, so I could use my iPod Touch like a cell phone to make calls within the country.

[Cyndi B.]

I am also think it will be great for our youngest in New Mexico. We don't get to see him unless we go there or we pay for them to come here (Amtrak, in steerage).

[reetired]

Absolutely.......it's a great way to actually see the other person. A lot more personal than a phone.

Make sure you don't use the "call" function that cost money. Video calls are free. I call the west coast several times a week and Amman Jordan. As long as you have a good connection....bar graph...it's wonderful! Sometimes the calls get dropped but that happens.

[Per Walthinsen]

We use it often to our children and grandchild in Europe. Unfortunately they live in a rural setting with basic, rock bottom Internet speed. Our picture comes through beautifully, but theirs is often cubist (or Picasso-like) and quite a bother.

We visited our 10-month old grandson recently and when he now sees us on Skype he breaks into a big grin and interacts freely. Priceless.

[Richard Hayes]

Been using Skype for years - great program, a great service. Skype-to-Skype is free - Skype to landline and cell numbers is very low cost a minute in North America. I usually buy $20.00 in credits once or twice a year. The video feature is neat, but I usually use the voice-only mode, especially if there's a slow connection.

I also use a MagicJack as my main phone - it's an internet/phone system interface, reasonably reliable but not perfect. There can be very short lags or delays or echoes - a lot like what used to be very good quality radio-telephone reception - and it occasionally drops calls. The advantages are cost - $30 a year, free LD in North America - and portability - I take it with me to the cabin, and use it when I'm travelling - always have my home phone with me. I also have a pre-paid cell for emergency use and texting. Chucked the landlines here and at the cabin two years ago, and they ain't coming back...

It's sure a different world than it was when the monopoly telephone provider customer support person told me " Well, if you don't like our service and our rates, why don't you just go to the OTHER phone company...Click..."

[Ron in BC]

Love it, love it, love it, hope I don't seem biased. Actually is surprising since my bro-in-law holds patents for VOIP and for several years we were the receipient of many truly awful phone calls while the bugs got worked out.

But now, as others have said, it's great. We also purchase some time so that we can call land lines. We've used it all over the world. Compared to the alternatives that existed only a few years ago it's fantastic.