I’ve previously been a bit sceptical about Skype, but in recent weeks have found myself using it more and more. Of course, it helps if you have someone you want to talk to on a frequent basis, as in the past my fairly well-stocked buddy list has remained open but unused most of the time. Now, though, with a rapidly-expanding range of first-class hardware supporting the platform it’s getting easier to use it as a primary means of talking to your friends. For free.
For a couple of months now, I’ve been using the excellent VoIP Voice CyberphoneK, which has finally come to the Mac platform. With a full keypad you can use it for calling regular phones worldwide at local rates, although as I also have a SIP-based VoIP phone for that, my SkypeOut credit remains largely unused and the buttons unpressed.
I know it means that you have to have your PC (or Mac) turned on to chat to your friends, but I do, currently, prefer the cable-connected handsets, as they don’t suffer the processor lag of the true wifi alternatives, which may look good but, in my experience, don’t yet live up to their promises.
Most importantly, though, and the reason why I think I may start raving about Skype – at long last – is the signal quality. I have been enormously impressed by the smooth sounds Skype’s engineers are managing to squeeze out of quite limited bandwidth. It is this, combined with a good range of low-cost handsets, that could make Skype one of the easiest, fastest-to-pay-back money saving moves any home can make.
Especially if you have plenty of friends also on Skype.
Skype can be downloaded for free, for use on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux, from www.skype.com.
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