halcyon 52

Hi all.

I ring Spain and Australia a couple of times a month and it puts around £40.00 a quarter on the bill (its the Spain mobile pushing it up!!).
Just downloaded Skype and am waiting for headset. Skype to Skype is free and Skype out is 1p a minut to Australia and 22p a minute to most mobiles in other countries.
Is any one using Skype and are there any downsides such as making your computer sluggish e.t.c when making a call ? - cheers James.

Centurion

We use Skype for all our international calls and its very very good. You do need broadband though but I havn't found a downside yet.

halcyon 52

Cheers for that.
It seems too good to be true. Definitely the future for the phone industry.
I think B.T will soon be giving free calls in one form or another

halcyon 52

Another question centurion is do you use the webcam ?
I am not fussed with the webcams but if we move to Australia it has a whole different meaning what with the kids e.t.c. What is the quality like?

Steve2438

Hi,we use skype now alot,not just Oz but even within the UK...webcams are great and the quality depends on the cost but as a rule one for about £30 will be fine

willmore

I use skype all the time to call all over the world and have had no problems at all with it. It is much clearer most of the time then regular ld calls. There is some interference every once and a while.

The only downside if you are on a Mac - is that although they have upgraded skype for PCs so y ou can use a webcam, they havent yet for a Mac.

Paul&Nic

I've used Skype on 2 occasions. Only 'my' experience but it wasn't very good, and there was tons of echo both ways. EVERYONE was using Broadband, but aadmittedlyI was using 'mic & speakers' and I've been told this might be the problem ?!?

Crazy bit was we could get the odd call from UK - Israel clear, yet EVERY time it was from UK - UK we got the echo ...

http://www.telediscount.co.uk/accessnumbers.php

Cost me 1p per min to Australia so have been happy with that to be honest.

Hutch

Actually Skype will work just as well on a 56k dial-up connection as it will on broadband. It uses peer-to-peer technology so your call is piggy-backed on the connection of other users - everyone carries the load, if you will, just like when you download a .torrent and get the data from other users. The best way to connect is straight Skype-to-Skype, using either a head-set or a USB phone. The most crucial part of your connection is the upstream, so make sure you've got nothing happening in the background that might affect that. Before you make a call, reboot your PC to flush the system and make sure that the person you're calling is using the same verison of Skype as you - preferably the most recent (currently 2.0.0.79) on the PC. If you suffer from echo and you're using a freestanding mic and speakers, simply try lowering the volume of the speakers or picking up the mic and speaking into hand-held. Due to the technology Skype calls can, unfortunately, degrade in quality over the course of a call - if this happens to you, simply hang-up and reconnect. If you still have trouble, try Gizmo (www.gizmoproject.com) which does the same job but has better line quality.

Kalenge

I use Skype as well as TeleDiscount (cheaps call from your regular phone). Skype is ok and does the job but it does tie you to your computer. And if you're doing Skype to Skype then you're dependant on others being wired up as well.

Telediscount usually has the best prices to call other countries from the UK without having to sign up at all. Very difficult to beat 1p a minute to Australia via your regular phone. Telediscount is a UK based service though, but I believe there are similar cheap call providers in Oz although they may not be quite as cheap as 1p.

goldcoastblue

There are plenty around,

Its all VOIP,

the beauty is to get rid of telstra some how.

goldcoastblue

have a look at

www.engin.com.au

www.airwebconnect.com.au

these may offer solutions to binning telstra rip off merchants,,

they charged me $4.80 a minute to phone Oz from abroad......on a mobile.......

mand8002

We use skype and have found it very good. I have a usb phone plugged into my computer so have no problems with echo or anything. Now though, and I am not sure what it is called, we have a phone in Australia with a UK number. It is a voip phone and if I ring someone else with a similar system the call is free too. Other than that it acts like a pay as you go phone and calls to UK numbers are at a local rate. The advantage being it is a cordless phone so am not stuck sat with my computer.

annqldau

We use skype and just turn on the noise supression and echo reduction as prefer to use with speakers rather than headset.

Appart from the odd line loss at times mostly works well and def saves on the phone bill.

Fionast

We use Skype. We have broadband and rellies in Oz have dial up. Works a treat

jas_uk

Just to clarify, the peer to peer backend is only for location of users; once you make a call you are directly connected (well, via the internet routers obviously) to the person you are calling, so your call isnt piggy backed at all. Its based on Gnutella; written by the same people in fact.

Also, yes it will work on a 56k but the latency is higher, this is as the equipment providing you the 56k connection is quite a bit further away in network hop terms from the large carriers than most broadband connections. So calling someone on broadband when you are on 56k and vice versa can have (more of) a delay between you speaking and them hearing.