Skype?

[les1]

Hi does anyone know if Skype is ok to use as I would like to keep in contact with my son on his laptop while he is on his travels in europe,thanks.

[Scarlett]

Skype is amazing and free. I have it, and use it to speak to my friends and family. My sister used to talk to us when she was on holiday in USA at Xmas. She also uses it to speak to her head of dept as she is doing a PHD- far cheaper than constant train journeys and meetings! Get it now!

[dennis m]

Hi

I like Skype but I like www.voipcheap.co.uk even better. Check out the rates to landlines in Australia, Spain and the USA! Get yourself a headset and save some money. You need a broadband connection and your son could go into an internet cafe with his headset and log onto his account or you could ring him back to a landline. Great stuff.

[wideboy]

Skype is great - I've just used it while away from home. Free to call computer to computer but I decided to put some credit into SkypeOut (only a fiver) to be able to call the home landline (a bit more convenient) - only a penny per minute or less. This of course applies to international calls also. As well as headsets, consider a handset - most are about �19 but I managed to get one from aria.co.uk on offer for about �12.

VoIP Phone USB Skype (�about �17 just now). Keep your eyes peeled for their special offers.

[wideboy]

PS. The new version of Skype has a Video Beta facility as well if you have a webcam.

[WoWo]

It's great, you can get a hand set, much like a real phone with speed dials, open and close call buttons, from Maplin for �12.

[rojash]

Not sure why dennis m thinks you need broadband. I use it all the time from here in Greece with my lowly 64k ISDN connection.

[wideboy]

Following on from rojash:-

System Requirements
In order to use Skype software, your computer must meet the following minimum system requirements.

Minimum System Requirements:
PC running Windows 2000 or XP
400 MHz processor
128 MB RAM
15 MB free disk space on your hard drive
Sound Card, speakers and microphone
Internet Connection (either dial-up: minimum 33.6 Kbps modem, or any broadband: cable, DSL, etc.)
However, in order to take advantage of all of the advanced features of Skype and to experience the best sound quality possible, we highly recommend the following configuration.

Recommended System Requirements:
PC running Windows 2000 or XP
1 GHz processor
256 MB RAM
30 MB free space on your hard drive
Full duplex sound card (most sound cards made after 1998), headset
Cable, DSL or equivalent broadband connection to Internet