I'm being encouraged to get Skype as a friend is off to South Africa for a few months.

Is it really easy? Do I just need a headset or handset?

How do you get on with it and when do you use it instead of a normal phone?

I presume you have to communicate in other ways to agree a time when you both log-on for it to work?

Yep, I'm best pals with Mr Luddite.

Ta,

Is it really easy?

Yes.

Do I just need a headset or handset?

If you're happy to be sat at the PC then I'd recommend just getting a webcam with a built-in microphone and listening through your PC speakers.

How do you get on with it and when do you use it instead of a normal phone?

Mainly pretty good. Occasionally poor quality video.
We use it when chatting to the in-laws or our mate in Oz.

I presume you have to communicate in other ways to agree a time when you both log-on for it to work?

You can set it to run in the background like Windows Messenger, so any time you're on the PC then you are callable (other person can see you are logged in). Otherwise yeah, email or txt to say when you'll be about.

It's great. I regularly chat with a family member who is living abroad by using it. I just got a headset for very little money indeed and that's it. I also now have it on my mobile phone and it's weird being so in touch when it used to be so diffcult to chat.

Hmmm. Sounds like I have little excuse not too!

Not going to worry about video – just voice, so just a cheap headset?

Ta.

You may as well go for the webcam with built in mike as you can picker em for under a tenner now

OK – will take a look at what is available.

Ta.

I spent a large percentage of my PhD being supervised from the other side of the planet through Skype. Just get yourself a cheap headset and you'll be away, webcam adds more interest I suppose, but also more bandwidth requirement, which may or may not be a problem at a remote end.

yeah i got it now. its handy

We use it a lot at work – mainly like an IM but when at home use it like the phone and just talk through the laptop whilst working – sometimes to collaborate sometimes just for company!

It's free, reliable and a great way of communicating overseas. No reason not to get it. Reception can sometimes be a bit sketchy, but just reconnect and everything usually resets OK. It's really nice to communicate with people overseas and see them too.

You may as well go for the webcam with built in mike as you can picker em for under a tenner now

Yeah that's what we've got. Works very well, a lot better than a headset. 🙂

I use it alot as my family live in the UK and i no longer do.

Excellent, free, video is useful – makes a phonecall much better and i can see my nephew & niece.

i use the built in camera & speakers on my laptop, but before just the webcam which gives fine results.

Considered it, but there's plenty of numbers you can ring to get super cheap rates overseas.

eg.I call my mum who 'over-winters' in South Africa using 'Dialwise': 08444621919, calls 2 or 3p/min (I forget exactly). Dead easy, been using them for years with no problems. You can even call mobiles overseas for a similar price (but different number)

Also when we did use skype, sometimes the line quality was atrocious

Remember to turn it off if your laptop is being used during a big international conference. It'd be terribly embarassing if your wife called during a presentation…. 😆

Bought a netbook for skyping the wife while I'm abroad, as I'm not allowed to install it on the work laptop. Has been a revelation, not needing to worry about the costs of calls, and being able to see each other.

Sometimes the quality isn't great, obviously limited by bandwidth, but you can always turn video off if your line is running slow, which improves things.

Thoroughly recommended.

Cheers, Rich

So where do I get this skype thing?

My old laptop is starting to run slow so would I need to update it or better buy a new one?

Well I installed it last night and found my laptop has a built in mic – so ready to go! (not going to bother with video it will depress me more seeing all that horrid sunshine).

Trekster – it's a small programme. Just google Skype download and you should find it easily.

Cheers,

If you're not that familiar with the laptop make sure it doeesn't have a built in camera that's switched on automatically by skype.

One of the women I work with got caught out quite badly by that one.