Skype? What is it? How does it work?

Hi, you need speakers/headphones, a microphone that is compatible with your computer, and the free Skype software (available on line). You can talk to anyone Skype-to-Skype, completely free, provided they have speakers/headphones, microphone and Skype software. You can also see each other, if you have a webcam. You could also just use it like Yahoo or Windows Live Messenger, and for that you only need the Skype software. Hope this helps!

If memory serves (there is so much crap out for computers now-a-days), Skype is a VOIP telephone. If you don't know, and there are many whom don't, VOIP is "Voice Over Internet Protocol." In short, it is a program that turns the telephone's signal into a series of linked digital packets and transmits it over the internet to a receiver elsewhere. Now...there are people adore and swear by Skype, and as many, or more, who despise it. I have heard good and bad things about it. Do some research. It may turn-out that if you want to go VOIP, you may go Skype, or any of the dozen or more companies offering this service. The one thing to keep in mind, for almost all VOIP programs, you, by default, require high-speed internet access to prevent signal loss, static, and/or other problems.

It's a bird, it's a plane--it's an advanced communications peer-to-peer network disguised as a phone service? Skype calls itself "free Internet telephony that just works," but it's much more than that, even if the company plays coy about all that Skype can do. Slipping onto the scene back in August 2003, Skype came from the two principals behind the KaZaA file-sharing network. Founders Zennstrom and Friis call Skype a third-generation peer- to-peer network, quietly putting KaZaA in their past. (They sold the service before most of the bad press started.) Their background in peer-to-peer networking makes Skype a different type of telephone service in a number of ways. Skype works on a decentralized model, meaning there are no big phone switches and controlling computers in regional data centers, such as those that power Vonage and other broadband phone service providers. The only centralized Skype services at the beginning were the login servers, which also show which other Skype users are online. The switches that followed control SkypeOut calls to traditional telephone networks around the world. Adding Skype Voicemail and SkypeIn (still in beta in early August) requires more centralized resources, and Skype data centers are growing as you read this. But Skype's low infrastructure cost per number of subscribers creates jealousy among every other broadband phone service provider.Primarily, Skype offers free software that lets you talk by way of the internet to another Skype user, anywhere in the world, for free. Your computer (or PocketPC) works as your phone. Free Skype client software for Windows, Macintosh, Linux (Red Hat/Fedora Core, SuSE, Mandrake/Mandriva, and multiple Debian flavors such as Xandros, MEPIS, and Ubuntu), and PocketPC may be downloaded free from the Skype.com site. People download Skype client software by the millions every month. At the beginning of 2005, the download counter was around 75 million (the download number includes active customers downloading updates). At the beginning of August 2005, the counter showed more than 144 million downloads. Skype's marketing expenses for advertising and other, normal company rollout hoopla: zero. More than 25 million registered users, 3 million-plus of whom are often online concurrently, were persuaded to join Skype by word of mouth. Other internet telephony services, such as Vonage, Verizon, Packet8, ATT CallVantage, and others, spend hundreds of dollars of marketing and advertising money to find each new customer. Skype spends nothing except for the server support to keep its download files available. Forget the technology, and appreciate that Skype became so cool and desirable that 25 times more people have registered for Skype than all other broadband phone services combined. Skype fans, every bit as rabid as early Macintosh fans, spread the word 25 million times that Skype was a hip and free method of talking to friends anywhere in the world.

Skype is a hybrid program that allows you to communicate freely with other users using a headset and microphone, or you can put money onto the account, and use it to call landline numbers anywhere in the world for 1p a minute (UK) You can also use it for conference calls. I used it quite frequently and it worked well.

Depending on what you want, it's free voice over internet calling or you can pay to use it as a phone service (like Vonage, it's call VOIP). If the other person also has skype you talk for free. If you want to use it to "call" people that do not use skype then you need to purchase a calling plan. There are phones that you can buy to use with these types of services (VOIP services) that plug into your computer usually through a USB port. Again, depending on what you're looking for it can be absolutely free or can get quite expensive if you decide to use it as your phone and invest in the wireless handsets which are now available.

Personally, I think that Skype is great. All you need is a PC camera. You can download the Skype program for free at Skype.com. It is really easy and self explanatory for use. It is a great way to keep in touch with people that you don't see very often, because you get to see them and hear their voice. To use it with your sister, you would both need one of the PC camera's and skype program, but if this isn't a problem to get, I think that it would be a great way to keep in touch! Good Luck!

Hello; Skype is just now becoming popular here in the US, although I had a friend from the Phillipines introduce me to it, four years ago... it's an instant messenger, but also has pc to pc calling for free (yeah, so does every other instant messenger, right?) but skype also has pc 2 telephone call service, you just put a certain amount of cash on your "calling card" and you have a certain time period to use it... don't worry, they give you plenty of time! I don't know how, but skypes voice over internet protocol (VIOP) seems to work better than any of the other ones I've tried, short of buying a telephone and having service with, say, Vonage... I was even able to use my wifi on my Dell Axim, and talk to a friend online, just like I had a telephone... and it worked great! I mentioned the fact that you gotta put $ on your card... well calls are cheap, like 2c per minute! I currently have three IDs on skype. I hope this helped!

Skype is a peer-to-peer Internet telephony network. Skype is a little piece of software that lets you talk over the Internet to anyone, anywhere in the world for free. Firstly, you will need a webcam. You can use Skype with most existing webcams. Check this link for more information: http://www.skype.com/help/guides/howtoskype/

Its a free form of communication. Just download it and set up your password. I use it for communicating to OZ works very well. Just follow the instructions you will be chatting in minutes.