When my roommate studied abroad last year it was weird to think we wouldn’t really get to talk for a couple of months except via email, then she told me about Skype.
It amazed me that for free we could actually talk through our computers. Skype is headquartered in Luxembourg and has spread like rapid fire throughout the United States.
Lucinda Watrous described a short history of Skype and it like every other internet-based company has thrived and expanded vastly. They have added add ons from calling mobile phones to video chatting all over the world! So basically anywhere there is an internet connection you can be visiting a friend in a different country. It also eliminates a lot of phone charges calling long distance or across the country. For a minimum fee of $2.95 a month you can call unlimited to the United States. That beats phone cards or paying by minutes.
There have been many controversial issues with Skype recently. It has been claimed that:
· Skype blocks and has disabled customer accounts from using the SkypeOut service
· Usage Caps being placed without customer awareness
· The web portal is the only form of customer service
· The conversations used in Skype can be wiretapped with ease by the government
My personal experience with Skype was that the connection was not the greatest and I would not use it as my main source of communication, but in the case of studying abroad or for an emergency, it is great.
7 Responses to “Free Calling? Skype”
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As a student currently studying abroad Skype is a huge God-send for me, it just wouldn’t be possible to keep in contact with family and friends as frequently as i do due to the high costs of international calls, although i must say, around half of my skype calls are interupted by bad connections and around half have to end early because of the poor quality, Skype are just lucky they don’t have any REAL competition.
Skype may not be the answer for phone service or communication yet, but i would venture to predict that it will be very soon, espically for international calling. PDA’s such as the iphone are making it available to buy applications that do a variety of things from games to pranks to the newspaper. Iphone has recently added skype as an application. the user wont need to use any minutes and be able to talk overseas on their skype application from their iphone for free! As more phones add the ability to add applications, you can expect to see skype being a popular download, and possible the future of all international communication.
You definitely have some good points about Skype – it’s great to be able to talk to people you might otherwise not have the chance to. For me, though, I first installed Skype to use one of its applications, not to call people. My friend and I were working on a project together and I couldn’t picture what he was describing to me. He told me it’d be a lot easier if I installed it so we could both use Skype’s “Whiteboard” application, and I did. It really made life a lot easier and we were able to collaborate on the project by seeing each other’s suggestions in real time.
I have used skype to talk to my boyfriend when he is in Belize during christmas break, and it has been great because it is free and for a small fee he could call my cell phone easily. I think that while it still has some kinks that need to be worked out skype is a great idea.
I’ve used it now a couple of times. One of the times I had forgotten my cell phone charger at my grandparents and it was the only way I could stay in touch with people. It definitely has some room to grow, but it’s amazing to see how far technology has come!
I used it when in china and it cost me 2.1 cents per minute it was amazing. I was able to keep in touch with my folks with out breaking the bank. The only downside is if your account dips below a dollar it auto fills it so my roommate and i got hit for another ten dollars with out our permission.
my girlfriend lives in korea, and skype solves alot of my communication problems with her. It is free to webcam and to call, which is awesome. What is more awesome is that I can use a iPhone app called fring, to talk to my girlfriend on my phone. Technology is getting so ridiculously advanced, and skype proves it!