Category Archives: Skype

What is Skype? – Here’s The Skinny To Get You Started

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What is Skype:

  • Skype is communications software that you can use on your computer, tablet, smartphone and other devices.
  • It runs on computers running Windows, Mac and Linux.
  • You can do instant messaging, voice calls and video calls

My Experience with Skype:

I first started using Skype about four years ago mostly for the instant messaging feature. I communicate with friends and colleagues across North America and also Europe and it is easy to use.

Also a lot of people I know were switching from MSN to Skype and I decided to give it a try. I still have my MSN Messenger account today, but I mostly use Skype for instant messaging. This is because I like their service and most everyone I know has also switched to Skype now. I guess they like it too.

And now you can blend your MSN Live accounts into your Skype interface and just use Skype. So another vote for Skype. What do you think? If you have any thoughts on Skype and your experiences, please leave a comment below, I’d loved to hear from you.

If you are already “instant messaging” your friends with Skype, then it’s pretty easy to stop taping on your keypad and place a call and since it is free if you are calling someone on Skype, it also easy on your wallet. This is called a Skype to Skype call.

Enough on the comparison, time to get the skinny on Skype.

So how is Skype today? Instant messaging is rock solid and I’ve never had any problems with it.
Skype to Skype calls are usually very good, but sometimes I get dropped calls when talking to more than one person on Skype. I’ve also noticed that the call can be garbled at times. Again, this is usually in conference calls when I’m talking to more than one caller. I rarely have any problems when I’m just calling one person on Skype.

Skype to Landline calls have always been very good and no issues there. This includes calling toll free and long distance numbers. I have unlimited world so all of my landline calls our covered under one monthly bill.

Skype to Mobile calls also work very well for me. Skype to mobile calls are not covered under my unlimited world and I pay on a minute by minute charge. It doesn’t cost a lot, but if you do not have any money in your account you will not be able to complete your call. This is something to check if you are calling someone and you can’t complete the call. Maybe you are calling a mobile phone.

Summary:

As you can probably tell from this article that I really like Skype and I use it a lot. If you haven’t used Skype, I recommend you give it a try.

So what is your experience with Skype? Enjoy reading your feedback below…

Skype Customer Support–better late than, well never?

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I posted a question to Skype technical support (I made sure that it wasn’t already answered in their Knowledge Base). It took over two weeks, but they did get back to me. Better late than never I guess. Honestly, whenever I fill in one of those web forms, I’m sure I’m sending my question into a black hole. I didn’t expect Skype to get back to me, but they did. So, if you’re not in any kind of hurry, go ahead and ask away.

Using VOIP in the real world

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One of the things I try to do on this blog is try things–new consumer VOIP products, downloads, etc. You can get commentary on industry news like who’s buying who, or who just closed shop, in places like GigaOm.

Admittedly, I don’t get to try a lot of hardware, just software mostly, but if you’re looking for that kind of thing, VOIP and Gadgets or Smith on VOIP are good bets.

But this week Andy Abramson, in Living with Softphones, posted a neat-and-tidy roundup of some VOIP tools he’s been using, and I like it because he lists only what he’s used (or experimented with), and explains how he uses them. I think this kind of post is really useful. Don’t you really wanna know just how you’re supposed to use all this stuff in the real world? I know I do. Thanks A. Alec Saunders also posts quite often on VOIP adventures with his Blackberry, and Phoneboy writes about handsets he’s using (because all other hardware is just too boring). Check them both out too.

For my part, I use on a regular basis:

Skype: for chat and calls to Skype buddies
Gizmo: for general softphone calling
PhoneGnome: for long distance calling to reg phones
SightSpeed: for video calls
GrandCentral: for simplifying inbound calling. I’m using it to funnel calls through my Gizmo account.
Fring: for mobile calls to Skype buddies (still experimenting mostly)

Since I cancelled Vonage in August, I haven’t signed on with another subscriber service. However, I’ll be trying one soon.

Fringing it on the Nokia N80i

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I’ve installed Fring on my Nokia N80i and got it working. (Yahoo!!) I won’t bore you again with my installation woes but this time I’m pretty sure it wasn’t me that was the problem.

When connected to a Wi-Fi access point, I’m able to make and receive calls and/or chats from Skype contacts. Of all the softphone-type VOIP applications I’ve tried, I have by far the most contacts in Skype so Fring will be useful to me for that reason alone. Using SkypeOut credit, I can make VOIP calls to non-Skype numbers. So far, I’d rate the call quality to Skype contacts as 7/10, which I think is pretty good. At least no echo, no echo.

New Skype 2.6 Beta…Turns Phone Numbers on Web Pages into Buttons

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After Tom Keating’s neatly packaged intro to Skype 2.6 Beta, I thought I’d give it a try. There’s a feature that turns phone numbers on web pages into buttons. Just click the grey button to dial the number on Skype. So cool! Works too!

Here’s what the contact number for a local movie theater looks like:

skype-phonenumberexample2.jpg

The Skype number highlighting icon in your browser toolbar (Explorer or Firefox) lets you turn this feature on or off, or uninstall it completely.

 skype-toolbaricon2.jpg

 

Put online help where it belongs

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Initially, I thought that the online support systems for VOIP softphones Skype and Gizmo Project were pretty decent. Using them to answer burning questions is another matter. 

Online Help belongs with the application. When I click Help > Online Help, please DON’T send me to the Knowledge Base or FAQs. Please DON’T open up another browser window and make me wait while the generic Help home page appears. Please DON’T make me use the Search feature. High level user guides or getting started tutorials are great, but make sure they’ve got some meat in them.

A Knowledge Base gives you little gulps of info with no breadcrumb trail to follow and no sense of context. To really aid and educate users, build Help right into the interface. Take the time to explain fields and buttons before I use them. To provide more information, use a fly-out Help pane (part of the interface that’s only visible when needed) and pull the content from an online server.

I want online Help that is specific to what I’m looking at on the screen. I want to browse Help by drilling down to the level of detail I need without losing my place in the story.

The End.

Kid Safety Online and Skype Me

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Alec Saunders has a post today on keeping kids safe on the Internet. A new product called IMSafer allows parents to monitor unsafe or suspicious online messaging while still protecting kids’ privacy. Bravo! See http://www.imsafer.com/.

The subject of kid safety online brings me to Skype and their talk-to-a-stranger-anytime feature called Skype Me. Skype Me essentially disables your privacy settings so that anyone on Skype can call you or invite you to chat. I’ve only turned this feature on once to see what would happen. Yikes. No thanks. Frankly,  I think it’s creepy. And after I disabled it, I went looking for the parental control command that would allow me to block this feature from being used. There doesn’t seem to be one.

Now I believe that parents have the responsiblity to supervise their children’s Internet time. It’s not the job of a corporation. However, Skype should consider building in kid safe features. For parents like me, it will make the difference if or where their product is installed in the home.