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8 months ago we met a couple in the south of France and they introduced me to SKYPE for the uninitiated it is a cheap and in some cases free phone service for anywhere in the world using your laptop or other devices. Since then I have never stopped using it and have saved enough money that it has payed for my laptop.I have used it with wi fi in the UK, France,Spain and Portugal and cant believe more people dont use it instead of all the expencive mobile phones.For example a like minded group of MHF members could all link up and talk to each other for as long as they wanted for free and from anywherein the world, its great.
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Have thought about it but wasn't sure. Got as far as going to their web page to download whatever you need but then became concerned they might charge me ??? so never did anything about it
What does it involve and how does one set it up etc?
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and go to prices and they are all there.
I put £10 credit on when we where in spain in january and phoned my mother every day for three weeks as my brother was in hospital and I still have £5.50 credit If it had been to another skype user it would have been free. phoning a uk landline number is only .012p minute. Certainly saved us a lot of money in spain this year
Steve
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I have broadband from Virgin It was NTL and I use the free Skype all the time in the office. I have a webcam on top of my screen and it is almost like having the other person across the desk.
I don't know how much data the connection generates which might be a problem if I was on a dongle, but I would definitely say it is well worth using it if you can.
You can even make conference calls with a group of people but I don't think you can have the video connection for them
Give it a try If I am on line you can call me I am in the directory as tim.loker in hemel hempstead
Tim
______________________________________________________________ Feng Shui is just chinese tidying up
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"For example a like minded group of MHF members could all link up and talk to each other for as long as they wanted for free and from anywherein the world, its great."
dragabed,
Indeed. That's why some of us have Skype buttons on our MHF posts
I have a Pocket PC phone and use it around the house and anywhere on a WiFi connection - for example for an hour last night while away in a hotel.
Dave
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We use skype at home and to keep in touch when other half is off around the world working (recently had daily 30 minute conversations with picture between peru and scotland and all completely free). I would recommend it to anyone who has a broadband connection. If you are phoning a landline or even a mobile the £10 credit lasts months.
Just one question, we are hoping to use it while in France in October - how easy is it to find a wifi network over there?
Chris.
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No punch line.
Just a great 'free' system.
When our son was in Aus we were able to chat free for hours since we were both using Skype.
Idon't know how they do it but it works for us - we now chat to our sons Aus in-laws for free.
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No punch line.
Just a great 'free' system.
When our son was in Aus we were able to chat free for hours since we were both using Skype.
Idon't know how they do it but it works for us - we now chat to our sons Aus in-laws for free.
Yes indeed - it's brilliant.
A bit of a lag quite often which suggests that the signal travels a long way, but once used to it there's no problem.
Skype was instrumental in my colleagues and I being able to set up a cottage industry style company based around selling a specialist product to clients abroad. There was a time when international phone calls could be your biggest expense as a small company. Skype let us do it several years ago literally for pence.
Now, when we put into place a new overseas distributor we supply them with a handset like this
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and they can use it like a regular telephone. They are around £20.00 . You can use Skype for voice but you can also (even at the same time) chat and drag files to send into the conversation which is fantastic for tech support.
After many years of using it I can share a few basic tips with you:
Headsets work very well but when they are plugged in you can't hear your speakers. Choose a device (such as those above) which install as a separate USB audio device so that you will be able to use your speakers and still make and receive calls.
If you use the mic in your webcam or built into a laptop I still suggest an earpiece for listening as you might be fighting against yourself, a bit like on a carkit. An earpiece makes a world of difference.
A webcam, talking to another person on Skype also with a webcam is truly a joy. I sometimes work remotely from my office and join in the Monday Morning Meeting via webcam on Skype. Much better than many conference systems costing thousands.
Set your settings to only receive chats or calls from those whose profile you have accepted. This stops you getting the odd call from cranks (no more than on yer home phone I might say!). That way you are 100% safe if you have kids or you just don't like nutters.
For you motorhomers you can add text to your picture to say what country you are in if you like. A lot of our contacts travel the world so they often say what time zone they are in. This helps us to know when it's ok to call and is a fun way of letting people know info.
You can have voicemail and there are many money saving options for forwarding to mobiles etc. Trawl the site. They are always fair and I've never been ripped off by them. I always have Skype credit and even if I telephone a landline or mobile abroad I never use the regular phone and neither does anyone else in the office. We have Vonage, a more commercial system costing much more (we only have it because it does ring-calling) but it's rubbish and it's going. We're looking at Skype proffesional as a complete office system because it really is good. It has a patented clever sharing system which is why you won't get near it with almost any other system. There's a reason for that. Skype was and still is based on technology used by the controversial file sharing system Kazaa which was eventually commercialised and I think has disappeared oir was shut down but the 2 guys behind it sold their next project, Skype to Ebay for $2.6billion (yes billion!) in 2005.
Ironically I'm writing this as a break from an evening in the office editing audio recording made Skype-to Skype with clients to be used for a trade show. (Skpe Recorder - a splendid add on!) I'm editing one conversation with a guy in kuala lumpur which sounds like a radio interview unlike the others to mobiles and regular landlines which sound like.....er....telephones!
I love Skype when I'm at my PC. I find it a little fiddly on handheld devices and there a lot of promising funky standalone devices needing no PC which don't really deliver YET. However if you've got a handset or headset, and a lappie you can save a fortune. But remember it's only as good as your internet connection so voice calls might be problematic on a site wi-fi if it's a free for all setup but I like text chatting anyway which I find iinvaluableand kids are much more comfortable with that.
As you might have guessed I love Skype!
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