Anyone here use Skype? Any opinions?

1. 
   Dave 2007 03 28 at 4:12:13 pm

   I use it with a couple of people. The best thing about it is it’s free.

2. 
   Rita Xavier 2007 03 28 at 4:49:32 pm

   Check the family site. Jodi & Mart use it all the time back & forth between NYS & New Zealand, said it is clearer than a real phone, and is free!

3. 
   Robert M. 2007 03 28 at 4:49:34 pm

   I use it to keep in touch with my brother in Colorado (I’m in Florida).  I’ve only used it computer-to-computer, but the quality is generally excellent.

4. 
   Dave 2007 03 28 at 7:18:03 pm

   And I should’ve said that I’ve mainly used it in computer-to-computer calls. The quality is generally pretty good after the first fifteen seconds or so, when there tends to be some echo.

   Have we mentioned that it’s free?

5. 
   Vicki 2007 03 28 at 8:28:44 pm

   I hated it.  Echoes, delay… it felt as though I had to start talking and wait for it to start relaying my voice, and then I’d have to start over again.

   As soon as it wasn’t free anymore, I got rid of it.  (It’s $30 a year; not free, but not expensive if you make a lot of international calls.)

   Anyway, download it, try it out. They’ll give you 5 minutes free.

6. 
   rob 2007 03 29 at 12:28:07 am

   i got the $15 deal for the year. i use it to call my girlfriend in canada from LA.

   it is better computer-to-computer, but try to avoid using wireless. connection speed and consistency are important. sometimes if you get a crappy, echo-y connection, hanging up and trying again helps.

   quality overall is pretty lame, but the price is pretty much unbeatable, so… it does the trick.

7. 
   kevin Andre Elliott 2007 03 29 at 6:21:47 pm

   I use Skype often. I’ve had no problems with calling computer to computer, but I agree with everyone else that calling computer to cell or landline can be shitty sometimes. I used Skype yesterday to call into Radio Free Pandagon and I was not happy with the reception or quality it produced, but I also have to wonder if it wasn’t at least partly because I’m using a cheap headset. Amanda says that she gets better sound quality using Skype to call in so I have to think that my own problems with Skype have more to do with my hardware than with the service itself.

8. 
   gordo 2007 03 29 at 7:26:54 pm

   Skype is still free if you call computer-to-computer to someone else who has Skype.

   And Skype has a few nifty features. It’s the only chat program that I use, and it’s convenient to talk and chat at the same time. If I’m referring someone to a website or I want to share a photo, I can send a link or a file while I’m talking on Skype.

   I can’t say enough good things about it. My brother lives in Australia, so it’s saved me quite a bit of money. Sometimes, the quality of the call will deteriorate after a few minutes, but this is remedied by hanging up and calling back.

9. 
   Chuck 2007 03 31 at 8:52:31 pm

   I have this headset and use Skype to talk to friends in Indiana and Brazil (from CA).  I’ve never used it in a non computer-to-computer context, but doggone, it sounds absolutely fantastic.  Way better than a telephone. 

   That said, I’ve heard the mixed reviews that are echoed here about mixing Skype and telephones, so I have to say I’ve been a little wary of, e.g., rolling back my cell phone plan and using Skype when I’m at home.

   In the computer-to-computer context, though, it’s totally free of charge and super-duper handy.

10. 
    metaphorical 2007 04 01 at 10:40:35 am

    I use SkypeOut when I travel internationally and have since at least 2003. Places I’ve used it from include Alberta, Zurich, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai (again).

    At 2c/minute, I have no complaints. The only calls that weren’t at least as good as an all-too-often-mediocre domestic cellular call were some of the ones from China, and that surely had little do with Skype and a lot to do with the lousy first-mile: the so-called broadband that most hotels and cafes in China have, especially for outbound data.

11. 
    The Constructivist 2007 04 01 at 12:50:43 pm

    Even using SkypeOut to call my lazy friends in the States who can’t be bothered to download the software so we can talk for free while I’m in Japan, I’m paying less for long distance/international calls here in Fukuoka than I ever did in Dunkirk.  Only problem is it can’t call customer help lines, so unless I want to use the cell and pay out the nose, I can’t get my online bank account unlocked.  Oh, and sometimes the sound quality on SkypeOut is bad.

12. 
    Nan McIntyre 2007 04 02 at 6:37:33 am

    Skype uses proprietary encryption and uses individual machines as routing nodes.

    For the encryption, I’d want to know what my machine is sending - or at least participating in routing.

    For the routing nodes, a mom and dad non-tech savvy user could find their bandwidth unfairly monopolised by Skype routing.  Although the consent is implied in the Conditions and Terms, in the case of some isps, this could result in heavy excess charges - and for most new users, Skype use would be the last suspect.
    Those with firewalled and well maintained machines can, of course, use Skype with very low bandwidth **at the expense of others who are routing supernodes**, so Skype is not free, in the sense of free for all users. 

    There are much more economical VoIP plans, on better controlled and serviced networks, than SkypeOut (calls to the POTS).

    The marketing is superb, and clearly very effective.  Much hardware is moved through the Skype site.

    I tested it over a 3 month period in all kinds of service and with low and high bandwidth connections.
    It rarely (less than 10 percent of the duration and less than 8 percent of initialisation of calls) did a straightforward call.

    2 out of 10 for ethics and 3 out of ten for consistent performance.
    Skype is trype.

    Put a Skype address on your calling card and most of my mates would put you in the iPod wanker basket.

13. 
    Nan McIntyre 2007 04 02 at 7:06:40 am

    Add to above post:

    I have no proprietary interest in any phone company or isp (internet service provider) but, in common with most Australians, I am on an eternal quest for comm solutions that are not either frank gouging (our national telco, recently flogged off to highest bidders) or shite quality.