Skype, computer phone

[Excaliber]

Just curious, anyone using it? I just started and I really like it! I'm still on my Hawaii cell, "roaming", and the service is a little flaky on the mainland. Folks said they have trouble calling my cell. Now when I meet new folks here I don't even give them my cell number, just my "home" number, which is Skype. Well, unless their real important people then I give them my cell and wish them luck getting through on it!

I guess at some point I will have to sign a new 2 year contract for a mainland cell plan but I really hate the idea of being tied to a contract for two years, AGAIN.

[Dan40]

Originally Posted by Excaliber

Just curious, anyone using it? I just started and I really like it! I'm still on my Hawaii cell, "roaming", and the service is a little flaky on the mainland. Folks said they have trouble calling my cell. Now when I meet new folks here I don't even give them my cell number, just my "home" number, which is Skype. Well, unless their real important people then I give them my cell and wish them luck getting through on it!

I guess at some point I will have to sign a new 2 year contract for a mainland cell plan but I really hate the idea of being tied to a contract for two years, AGAIN.

But a completely rotten health insurance plan with NO rollover minutes for LIFE, is OK? Weird!

[Excaliber]

So Dan, are you familiar with Skype?

[computerworks]

Originally Posted by Excaliber

So Dan, are you familiar with Skype?

Skype is great... use it a lot, particularly for conference calls.

Have the pay per month plan of a couple of bucks per, so that I can call and record land lines and cell calls.

I use a mid-priced headset with boom mic for ease of use at the desk; I have also used it with my cell bluetooth earpiece while I worked and walked around the shop.

Have had it for years... works all the time.

[1ntCobra]

Sometimes Skype works just fine. Other times it is unusable.

I have coworkers in India and they prefer to contact me with Skype. That is computer to computer calls. Sometime I get echoes and drop outs with Skype. When it happens, I get really annoyed and after a minute I just give up on the call. Trying another Skype call sometime helps, but often does not when I have problems.

VOIP does not need to be crappy. Our office phones are VOIP and they work just fine all the time. Skype does not always work for me, but I guess if you get what you pay for doing free computer to computer calls with Skype.

I have never tried their paid service with an actual phone number. I guess my expectations have been set from their free service, that they are going to be useless. However my brother-in-law has tried the pay service and he feels it is not as awful as I would expect.

[Excaliber]

Speaking of India, when I was in Hawaii I was talking to a friend on mine over there. I on my cell and she on her cell, the connection was not the best. She said call me on Skype, so I did. Fabulous! WAY better than the cell phone. So far for me, it's been flawless. I have a real number now, got a nice light weight earphone with mic combo, tried the boom mic, it works OK, I prefer the head set at my desk (hard of hearing here, I need the best quality up close to understand).

Blue tooth connection? Well dam, I wasn't even aware of that yet, I'll look into it. Thanks for the tip Ron.

[Gunner]

Skype is like every other free/cheap service run by and for the techie grad student crowd still hanging around in their U sweatshirts and complaining that anything costs them money. In other words, it works well enough to please the crowd that wants the service but doesn't want to have to pay for it, and will put up with flaky and erratic service instead while congratulating themselves on being so smart as to make an end run on Big _____.

I would caution very strongly against making it one's primary phone service.

[Excaliber]

To get the "good stuff" with Skype it's not free, but it is very cost effective. I'm thinking of getting a low minute local cell phone plan (dang two year contract) and using Skype around the house as my primary phone. I'm retired now, don't get or make a lot of calls anyway and generally I'm around the house most of the time. I think it's a great solution for me.

Working outside, in the garage, the blue tooth connection idea may be just the ticket.

I'm looking into call forwarding to my cell from Skype as well, another pay for service "add on". Erratic service? It's been a 100% reliable for me in several states and several months now.

[computerworks]

Gun...have you actually used it at any length?

I have had it in place for years and it is flawless....

I install it regularly for my clients with overseas offices and reps.

Half a billion in revenue and 480 million users ain't some sweatshirt crowd in a walk-up.

[1ntCobra]

Originally Posted by Excaliber

To get the "good stuff" with Skype it's not free, but it is very cost effective. I'm thinking of getting a low minute local cell phone plan (dang two year contract) and using Skype around the house as my primary phone. I'm retired now, don't get or make a lot of calls anyway and generally I'm around the house most of the time. I think it's a great solution for me.

Working outside, in the garage, the blue tooth connection idea may be just the ticket.

I'm looking into call forwarding to my cell from Skype as well, another pay for service "add on". Erratic service? It's been a 100% reliable for me in several states and several months now.

If you are looking for a low minute cell phone plan without a contract, I signed up for one of TMobiles pay as you go plans. I bought 1000 minutes that are good for a year for $100 back in August. I still have 269 minutes left as of this minute. Four months without a cell phone bill so far makes me happy. It certainly won't work if you have teen age kids who are on the phone and texting every 2 seconds. But if you only occasionally use your cell phone it seems to be work out well

TMobile has a second pay as you go plan where you only pay on days that you use the phone, but that one did not seem cost effective for the way I use the phone.

[Gunner]

A full answer would take more time than I have at the moment, but yes, I've used Skype (it was our backbone communication tool for a huge project three years ago, with no funding and participants spread out over the US and Canada). It worked well enough if we fiddled around, especially the participants with computers older than last week, and didn't mind the dropouts and inaudible connections.

The list of useless/pointless tech companies that made and in some cases still make absurd amounts of money is too long to make Skype's erratic financial success a mark of quality. Nor is ANY user count that's largely nonpaying.

I spent ten years in and around the leading edge of telecom and learned enormous respect for what goes into making a communications platform reliable. Skype does not meet those standards and is in fact incapable of meeting them. It will work "well enough" as long as everything it depends on keeps working - great on sunny days, not so hot when the rain comes. In the end, there are few services that people depend on more than their phone service. When it works for you in a blizzard during a medical emergency, let us know. Because if it doesn't work at that time, no one will ever hear from you again.

[computerworks]

Bad move, you did... I wouldn't even consider it for "mission critical." They could indeed be gone tomorrow.

It's just a cute little gizmo that is cheap and works all the time.

[trularin]

We use it at the house to keep in contact with the children.

It is stop and go. Sometimes you get a good connection and sometimes, you are sharing bandwidth with lot of others. Still works though.

[tcrist]

My ex-wife uses the free version (on the computer with the camera) for her calls to her family in Europe. She likes it a lot but does not use it as her primary phone. It does lock up once in a while and then she just Skypes them back later. I do ont know anything about the pay version or the headset/bluetooth stuff.

As far as it locking up. She has found that it has always been her family in Germanys connection.

I use the Comcast tripple play stuff and it works great until the power or Comcast craps out then I don't even have a phone line. I went and got a minimal cost "GO Phone" for emergancies.

[computerworks]

Originally Posted by tcrist

As far as it locking up. She has found that it has always been her family in Germanys connection....
.

I should add that when I say "works all the time"... it is simply as good as your internet connection.

[Bobcat]

First off ... I`m a techie illiterate . A friend is deploying on 1/18/10 and is looking for a way to stay in touch while on board ship ... somewhere in the mid east . He isn`t sure where he will be ( marine ) . He isn`t sure his cell will be cost effective back to the states ... or even work , and isn`t sure about having regular computer access . If he does , will Skype work for him ? If not ... any suggestions ?

Bob

[4RE KLR]

Originally Posted by Bobcat

First off ... I`m a techie illiterate . A friend is deploying on 1/18/10 and is looking for a way to stay in touch while on board ship ... somewhere in the mid east . He isn`t sure where he will be ( marine ) . He isn`t sure his cell will be cost effective back to the states ... or even work , and isn`t sure about having regular computer access . If he does , will Skype work for him ? If not ... any suggestions ?

Bob

My niece is in the military. My aunt sent her a Magic Jack and a cheap $10.00 Walmart phone. It works like a charm and cost $0.00.

They cost $39.?? to buy it and that includes the first years service. From then on you have to pay $19.00 a year. I bought one two years ago and use it almost everyday. It works as good as any phone I have ever had. Again, it cost only $19.00 a year. NO monthly bill and no extra taxes BS.

If you get the Magic Jack and send it (or let him take it with him) all calls into the US (& Canada) are free. No per minute and NO TAXES. No monthly bill at all.

RON:
I know this thread is about Skype... but he asked for suggestions. I was not trying to hijack the thread

[computerworks]

Originally Posted by 4RE KLR

I was not trying to hijack the thread

No foul...that's good advice for him.

[Wayne Maybury]

OK here is a question from the middle ages; what is Skype?

I see Magic Jack ads on TV all the time but I wonder how can they do it for $29.95 a year?

Wayne

[Gunner]

Originally Posted by computerworks

I should add that when I say "works all the time"... it is simply as good as your internet connection.

The many elements of your net connection, your power, your computer, Skype's servers...

I have no argument against Skype and such services except when people think about using them as their only phone link, including emergency needs. You want to talk to your agents in Iran for "free"? Be my guest.

(Edit: Ha ha ha, I typed that last line before reading Bobcat's last post... )