Skype: Make Free Calls from Your Computer

I’ve been experimenting with Skype for about a month and thought I’d let you know about my experience so far.

Skype is “a little program for making free calls over the internet to anyone else who also has Skype. It’s free and easy to download and use, and works with most computers.” That pretty much sums it up. It downloaded and installed with ease, and I made my first call about 15 minutes after getting started. All I needed was my USB headset (you can buy them at RadioShack or find links from the Skype website).

Calls from one computer to another are free, from anywhere to anywhere in the world, and they take place via Internet connection. Now that I have Skype, I’m realizing how many other people have it too—far more than I would have guessed. Calls from a computer to a regular phone, called SkypeOut, cost about .02 a minute. I called my sister’s home phone and the sound quality was excellent, though we each found each other a bit louder than usual (please, no comments about our New York upbringing…).

If you’re paying more than .02/minute for your calls and usually sit at your desk or near your computer when talking business, Skype is definitely worth looking into as part of your practice management system. And there are new Skype features springing up regularly:

• Making calls directly from your MS Outlook contact list.
• SkypeIn, a low-cost way for your colleagues, friends and family to call you from a regular phone…you answer via Skype.
• Skypecasts, “large, hosted calls on Skype, in groups of up to 100 people participating from anywhere in the world” (with thanks to MediatorTech reader Christoph for drawing my attention to Skypecasts).
• Voicemail, which comes free with SkypeIn.

Any other Skype users among MediatorTech readers? If so, what do you think of it? What made you decide to use it? Leave a comment with your thoughts!