Skype
Monday, May 15th, 2006
Voice over IP (VOIP) has been around for a long time. In the late 1990’s VOIP worked a lot like a 1970’s CB radio. I few people had them. If you could find someone to talke to, the quality was hit or miss and also half-duplex. That means only one person could talk. You could either talk or listen.
Just in the last year or so a company called Skype has offered VOIP that works well.
Skype is free. On top of that, the quality is nearly as good as a regular telephone. The service is full-duplex; you can talk and listen at the same time just like a regular phone. Using Skype you can call anyone else using Skype anywhere in the world… for free.
The only problem is that some people don’t have fast connectivity. Skype requires a broadband connection. That leaves a lot of people out, but Skype does offer SkyOut. Using SkyOut, a Skype user can call a regular phone number. The rate is around a penny or two per minute even for some international numbers.
Starting today, Skype users can now call any US or Canadian regular phone number for free.