I have just joined the 21st century and am using Skype on my laptop.. its really good!! Does anyone else use it??

I don't even know what it means....................... I've seen the word but can't be bothered to find out what it is!!!

I LOVE skype, it has totally saved my life this summer, and saved me probably thousands of pounds and years of heartache!! So yes, I am a fan

What is this 'sky pipe' you speak of?

OH and I run up a £650 phone bill the first month we were seeing each other, so skype is a godsend. He bought me one of those funky skype phones last xmas and it's the best thing ever. It's like a real one!

its fantastic, my sis emigrated to Melbourne last year and Skype enables us to chat as much as we want for free

*wonders if she should at least find out what it is..........................*

We started using it earlier this year when OH was ill at home and had to make a couple of conference calls. After one day of him hogging the house phone, I looked into Skype, and it was fantastic. Even if you're only calling landlines and not between computers, it's much cheaper.

So you can talk to anyone anywhere in the world for free then? I thought it was just free if you were both in the same country. Now I really am excited!!! I can talk to all the friends in outer mongolia that I don't have

I'm getting a new mobile contract soon with Three, with unlimited Skype so can talk to the OH to my hearts content

Hurrah for technology!!

http://www.skype.com/

Also check out windows XP. It's amazing, much better than 98!

Aren't you going to ask for this thread to be banished to the Phone forum then???

Are you kidding, I've only just discovered Windows 95

Jeezz...... some peoples attempts at being funny..!!!

Skype is a proprietary VoIP system, most people opt the SIP standard for VoIP as you don't need your PC to make and receive calls as you can use adapters to allow regular phones to be connected, use a enhanced VoIP phone. You can if you wish use software like you do with Skype and use one of those pretend phones that connect via USB like Skype.

Many people who cut their teeth with Skype have moved onto the real thing and is why Skype isn't gaining the users it once was.

With SIP standard of VoIP you can choose from many providers. Calls between other users are free and many have peering arrangements, many also offer an incoming phone number at no charge. You don't have to pay any monthly fees with some and just use them for calling each other on VoIP, others you can pay €10 (Ten Euro) and get 120 days of free calls to landlines in many countries, plus you don't lose that €10 you can use it to call other destinations, after 120 days you can either just use up the remaining credit for as long as it takes to run out, or add another €10 to it and get another 120 days of free calling.

Others charge just a couple of pence connection fee to call landlines with no other charges per minute.

Tesco also offer a VoIP service, this can also use SIP devices.

With SIP, if you are on cable broadband you can use a SIP device and dump the landline, with the right device and service no one would know it was VoIP and not a regular landline.

Skype & Tesco are usually two of the dearer providers for making regular calls with.

Skype like real VoIP doesn't care where you are.

When making Skype to Skype calls it just sends the data over the internet - these calls are free.

Same with SIP standard VoIP providers, such as Sipgate, VoIPTalk, OrbTalk, Gradwell, VoIP Buster Pro and many others. Make calls between others on the same network and as the call completely goes over the internet there is no charge. There may be peering arrangements so you can call another VoIP providers customer for free also.

Tesco also advertised about buying a couple of their VoIP phones or devices and sending one to a relative in Canada, USA, Aus, NZ, Spain, Germany etc etc. Same can be done with any of them. You can have a UK phone number and live Spain or USA or Aus. You can have a USA number and live in the UK.

Nope. Didn't understand a word of that!!!

I didn't alert it actually, I'm not that anal.

Woah... there's a VoIP forum? DS is like a playground sometimes! You move away from your group and see there are actually loads of other kids having fun too!

We use it with the video cam to contact our son and his family in Australia and it's all free.

We can also call them on the landline with talk talk that is also free.

Ha Ha Ha!! I know you wouldn't - but I couldn't resist it!!

http://www.voip.org.uk/how_voip_works.php

I have Skype on my mobile and it's nice talking to people for free in Australia, America etc, I use Skype on PC mainly for webcam as it has a much higher bitrate than MSN, AIM etc, it also has a good fps.

Another good thing about Skype is it's avilable on nearly all OS's, Windows, Mac & Linux with webcam capabilities.

I use Skype lots both at work and home. You can be signed in on more than one device too which is handy for me. A normal day in the office is my main PC signed in which i'll have instant messages on, macbook signed in for any video calls, and my mobile signed in over the wireless network for standard voice calls. When a call comes in, all 3 ring and i just pick which one to answer with.

is it cheaper to get skype credit, use an adapter to hook up my landline to my router and make all my calls through skype than it is to have a subscription with virgin media and to have 24/7 free calls at £7.95 per month?

£7.95 for inclusive calls - not really free when you are paying £7.95 per month for them.

Probably. Depends on calling pattern.

However using grown-up VoIP would be cheaper.

Get a Linksys PAP2 ATA, connect this to your router and then you can connect up your regular phones you have at home (either corded or cordless) and you can make calls and receive calls without the need of the PC being on.

If you don't have a router other models of Linksys ATAs come with basic routing, where you plug your cable modem into it and then your PC into it as well as your phones, still no need for PC to be on to make and receive calls.

Then choose from one of many proper VoIP providers and like Skype (one of the dearest if making calls to landlines / mobiles) to the kids. Many other VoIP providers offer incoming local number for free and voicemail for free - all your other services such as caller display, call waiting, 3-way calling, anonymous caller reject etc are part of VoIP so no charge either. You might go for a service such as Sipgate which has no monthly fee but charges around 1p/min for calls to landlines - the £19 saving you are making from not having a phone line and 24/7 inclusive calls may pay all you Sipgate call costs and still have lots left over. There's VoIPBusterPro, VoIPStunt, VoIPDiscount, JustVoIP and many other brands from Betamax - with various amounts of inclusive calls - they used to offer a local number, but now only a 0560 VoIP number.

There's Vyke that charges 2p per call to many destinations, no incoming number.

With those with no number and therefore you can only make calls, you could use two services one for outgoing and one for incoming. Such as Vyke with Sipgate. Some devices let you access both from one line other devices like the PAP2 have two lines, so you'd have Vyke on line one and Sipgate on line two for example.

I signed up with a few of the Betamax services (now use VoIPStunt mainly) when they offered local numbers, so use that along with Vyke (previously used VoIPStunt and Sipgate) on a PAP2 ATA.

You can only talk for free if they have skype too... so you're talking skype to skype. I use it to call friends in USA and even if I'm calling landlines or cell phones it's so cheap!