Skype Rules

If you have friends or relatives overseas, and you would like to speak to them cheaply, you must get Skype! Skype is a company that provides ways of calling from computer to computer, or computer to phone. We don't know how it makes any money (yet - will they add advertising like Google at some point? get us all hooked and then start charging?) but right now computer to computer calls are free, and I believe domestically computer to land line calls are free also. The charge from computer to overseas land line is unbelievably cheap - I think it's not much more than 2 cents a minute. That's right - 2 cents. And without all those extra numbers you have to call with a calling card! (Not that those aren't handy, too.) You can download Skype software for free from the Internet (easiest way: google "skype" and it will come up). When you click on your Skype icon on your computer, you'll see a little box that will allow you to make a call. It's easy to create a list of contacts (for instance, family and friends abroad and at home). If your computer has a built-in mike (like Macs do) you don't need a headset; otherwise you'll need a headset with a microphone. I bought mine at Best Buy for about $20. It has a microphone and earphone plug, which should easily plug into your computer (mine plug into my laptop on the front right and the headphone and earphone are color-coded, helpful for the bifocal-impaired like me.) And you can conference call! My younger son is abroad in England, I'm in China, my older son is in California, my daughter is in Chicago, and my husband in Naperville. We haven't had a five-person conference call yet, but we did connect China, California, and Chicago quite easily - and we left a relay phone message for my daughter - on her cell phone, no less. My husband has called a few times from his computer to my land line in China! A long call - over half an hour - from Chicago to China cost 82 cents. (You can buy a certain amount of Skype credit for calls to overseas land lines.) The trickiest thing is to coordinate times, but of course that's true for all overseas calls. Try it!