Skype

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Here’s a tech/web recommendation/review. I’m traveling in the boonies, meaning outside of the USA without broadband or cheap telephone service. In fact locally it costs about $1 per minute to call back to the states. Enter Skype. If you’ve used it before, you’ll know it has terrific sound quality. What really blew me away is its performance on dial-up. In the middle of nowhere, as long as you have a 56k internet connection, you can call from your laptop to any phone in the world for pennies. This is nothing new, as ICQ has a similar service with IDT’s Net2phone, which I tried before as well. Skype wins hands down however. The sound quality is better than a regular phone, but more importantly, there is no lag or dropped sounds.

If you’re traveling with a laptop, and need a cheap way to call home, get Skype.

7 thoughts on “Skype”

  1. Hear hear.

    I haven’t tried Skype over dialup, but I’m on a job in the Philippines and talking to home is free or $0.02 per minute. It’s certainly saved me a bundle and I think it’s great. Plus you can always use chat, and can transfer files (like pictures) from the chat window.

  2. Incognito,
    I’d love to design my off-grid telecomunications around a system like this. But the voIP and data packaging protocols of services like Skype’s are incompatible with my satellite connection IP’s. Just like the satellite-using rancher quoted in Skypes PR release*, “I can hear conversations real good but can’t talk out.”

    I’m wondering, when you’re in the “middle of nowhere” are you plugged into a land-line, or using a satellite internet connection?
    -Steve

    *

  3. Steve, nice on the satellite IP. I’m not quite that far into the boonies, more like Eastern Europe with a land line. The internet and tech in general is booming here, especially among the 10-40 year old male demographic group, as everywhere else in the world. I’m missing my broadband connection at home, but this gets the job done. Thanks for the link.

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