Free calls through your pc!!!

Dathai

Hi,
Here is a new program that lets you make free calls(short & long distance) from your pc.Info here, Download here
I wasnt too sure where to post this so Im sorry if its in the wrong section.

milltown

Anyone used this yet? Sounds too good to be true, that usually means it is! A quick look around the site shows no signs of charging for the software or the calls.
Is there a catch?

Genghis

All your friends have to have the same application, and be on-line at the time you want to chat. They are the catches, I'd guess.

Dathai

I dont think you can call landlines Im not sure,I'll ask around ..............

Tom Dunne

These kind of programs have been around for a long time - they work on the basis of Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP).

If you are running Windows, you most likely have Net Meeting installed - it can do voice calls over the Interweb. Linux has a few of them also. If you use any of the instant messengers (Yahoo, Microsoft) they also have voice call capability.

There is no charge (how do they charge you for transferring data?), but the caveat is, as Genghis said, that the person you are calling has to be online at the same time. I use Yahoo messenger to "call" home quite a bit. The quality can be variable, but you can have a very long converstaion for free.

I believe there are some companies that allow you to make calls using your PC to regular phones (try net2phone ), but of course they charge you.

brian_ire

i've been readin about this "skype" program for a while now. It's nothing new at all but has just been getting alot of attention mainly cuz its from the creator of Kazaa. Anyway it's features have been built into many other apps, like previously stated Netmeeting, but also yahoo, aim and msn messengers. They plan to make their money on webcam calls which they charge for. But again these are available free through msn messenger and yahoo. did i miss something or is "skype" not just an instant messenger program concentrating on voice chat?????

unkel

Have been using Skype since the week it was launched (late last year iirc)

I have been very pleased with this free service and have saved a lot of money making international phone calls

The quality of voice is much better than over the normal telephone network, but full duplex is not as good. I find the built-in text messaging system very good as you can use it at the same time as making the voice call

Well worth your while trying this for yourself as it only takes a few seconds to setup :cool:

DrEvil

Skype is actually different from other VOIP technolgies. Firstly it has all the features in other VOIP programs but together in one program.
For example - Netmeeting you can have conference calls but can't have a meeting between two people behind firewalls.
With msn messenger you can't have conference calls but you can have calls with both users behind firewalls as the calls are routed through MSN servers. Also with MSN you contact people by username and not IP addresses.

Skype combines these things into a single package.

There is one thing which is new with skype and that is the P2P part of the prog. When two people connect the calls are routed like in msn if needed but this time they are routed thorugh other users! This is so the optimal connection is made betweem 2 users thus call quality and latency is greatly improved

It's explained better here at http://www.skype.com/skype_p2pexplained.html

here's a quote or two from the site

'A true P2P system, in our opinion, is one where all nodes in a network join together dynamically to participate in traffic routing-, processing- and bandwidth intensive tasks that would otherwise be handled by central servers.'


'Intelligent routing:

By using every possible resource, Skype is able to intelligently route encrypted calls through the most effective path possible. Skype even keeps multiple connection paths open and dynamically chooses the one that is best suited at the time. This has the noticeable effect of reducing latency and increasing call quality throughout the network. '

joePC

Yeah Skype is great, I can talk all day to america for free --> less BB charges but would have them anyway.

Quality is much better than other VOIP services.

Thanks JoePC

Adeptus Titanicus

I saw something on TV about Skype and thought it looked really good, but as it came from the creators of Kazaa I was wondering if it installs other third-party "goodies" with it?