DUers - Check in with your Skype Address!

[benburch]

Mine is ben_burch

IM me or phone me any time I'm online!

[Stephanie]

1. what is it?

If ben has one I want one too!

[bananas]

2. Free internet telephone calls

I don't have it, but I've thought about it.
http://skype.com/

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

3. What is Skype?

"Skype is a little program for making free calls over the internet to anyone else who also has Skype. It’s free and easy to download and use, and works with most computers. Download Skype now or learn more about Skype (incl. screenshots)."

http://www.skype.com/

:toast:

[hlthe2b]

4. cool!

[Stephanie]

5. hmmm

wonder how well it works with dial-up... :blush:

[benburch]

9. Not certain...

but I have heard of dialup users using it.

[951-Riverside]

23. I used it on dial up & as long as you stop all other internet activities.

you should be fine :)

[Igel]

10. For audio-only, it's not horrible,

from what I've heard. No direct experience on this.

We have DSL, and my mother-in-law has broadband/cable. We video-skype, so that she can see her grandson more often.

My mother-in-law just audio-skypes with her daughter-in-law, and she says it works fairly well. Whether that means they hear every word, I don't know.

It also depends on whether the daughter-in-law gets a fairly fast connection when she dials up.

[SoCalDem]

15. There's texting too..while you are talking if you want to

and you can have the texting saved for later if you are not on.. people can leave messages

[Turbineguy]

11. It's pretty good

although since I got Skype (Linksys has a nice little handset) my Voip phone makes calls to 22 countries for free.

Only the calls between 2 Skype phones are actually free.

[benburch]

7. What they said.

And it works great. Not the same quality as the phone, but for free, how can you complain?

And it has an IM and file sending features too.

And conference calls and conference chats.

And (for a fee) you can dial out. (Toll free numbers are free, though.)

And you can pay for an INCOMING phone number.

And you can pay for a voice mail add-on.

[Igel]

13. VIDEO!

My dad, in his late 70s, was incredulous at the idea of free video-phoning. It struck him as far, far too sci-fi.

Quality's not great, but for free ... ?

[benburch]

16. Yeah. And I have a camera, too...

But I have a face for radio.

[Nomad559]

24. You can dial out free

to landlines with VoipStunt.

http://www.voipstunt.com/en

:)

[benburch]

26. But far more people are on skype...

so if you want to be communicating with a community of people, skype is it right now. And it is on Linux, Mac and (ick) Windows.

[freedom_please]

27. If you like Skype...

... You'll love Gizmo:

http://www.gizmoproject.com/

[Nomad559]

30. Yes

Gizmo Is much better than Skype.

:)

[benburch]

31. Elucidate? Better how?

They seem like clones of each other to me.

[chat_noir]

6. NSA-proof?

:evilgrin:

[benburch]

8. Nothing is. nt

[951-Riverside]

12. You're offline

[benburch]

14. Yes, doing audio editing now.

Back online in a few minutes.

[951-Riverside]

17. ...well thats no fun :D

[benburch]

20. Had you and then lost you... nt

[951-Riverside]

21. Program Froze

Isn't technology grand? :P

[benburch]

22. Gotta love it.

Because what's the alternative?

[benburch]

19. Back! nt

[terip64]

18. My daughter is in the Netherlands for a semester and we talk all the time!

It is so great!

[benburch]

33. I have a friend in London...

I couldn't afford to talk to her any other way.

[DesertRat]

25. Skype is cool

I heard about it from my son who uses it to talk to his girlfriend in Germany.
:)

[NV Whino]

28. I keep in touch with a friend

in Los Osos. We sometimes have an echo, but it works really well. I expect they (or the phone companies) will find a way to charge sooner or later. After all the phone companies are losing money when we use this.

[benburch]

29. Until then...

Use it!!!!

Fuck the phone companies.

[NV Whino]

32. I'll drink to that.

:toast: