Skype Basics

Skype is the most popular Internet voice communication service in the world. More than 75 million people use Skypemore than all the other Internet voice providers combined.

Skype is simple to use. It lets you reach out across continents, borders, countries, and time zones to make crystal-clear voice calls, send instant messages, transfer digital files, and make video calls almost anywhere in the world for free. You can also call people on their ordinary phones and cell phones for a fraction of the cost of a traditional call.

Skype is changing the way people think about communications. Because the Skype communication signals are carried over the Internet, the major costs associated with traditional phone systems are eliminated. And because the phone company isn't controlling the amount of time you spend conversing, you can communicate for as long as you want.

Skype is also changing how people communicate. Because voice and IM are integrated into one application, you can quietly communicate back and forth with text and then switch seamlessly to voice when it's easier to talk than type. Skype also provides an important sense of "presence"who is online and whether they are availableso you know ahead of time whether someone is willing and able to communicate.

People use Skype in a variety of ways:

• Family members on international business trips open Skype connections and leave them open so they can talk to loved ones back home any time of the day.

• Working parents use Skype to monitor activity at their homes.

• Small development groups hold long international conference calls while sending instant messages (IMs) and documents back and forth during the call.

• Travelers in hotels, on international flights, or on cruises (which offer Internet connectivity) make calls for a small fraction of the price of a long-distance call.

A Global Application

Skype Technologies was the first company to deliver clear and consistent calls over the Internet, and as a result, Skype is used in almost every country in the world.

At present, the largest groups of Skype users reside in Europe, Asia, and North America. The fastest-growing group of Skype users is in Asia in particular, Chinaas a result of the rapid adoption of broadband connectivity and the expense and poor quality associated with the traditional phone system.

Brief Overview of Features

Skype is a full-featured and stable communication application. It has capabilities and graphical user interfaces for the following:

• Making person-to-person calls

• Making conference calls

• Making video calls

• Chatting (sending and receiving IMs)

• Transferring files

• Managing Skype accounts

With each update of the Skype application, convenient new features become available. For a list of the major features and capabilities currently available with Skype, see the tables later in this chapter.