This is a great application used by millions of families to stay in touch even when separated by thousands of miles. One of the great features of Skype is this group video conferencing. Many families with extended family members studying abroad use Skype for this purpose. They are able to see and hear each other. This gives them a sense of relief when they can see that the other party is in good health and are safe.
They don’t feel alone and sad. They get to talk to and see their loved ones on a regular basis. Sometimes even daily if time permits as it’s free. This is even better than talking to friends and family on the phone as you get video confirmation of their safety and well-being. Video conferencing is also used by many companies in their business meetings where presentations are made and decisions are finalized with both parties even though they are thousands of miles apart.
They can see and hear what the other party is saying and can decide immediately if the proposal is good or bad. Skype can be downloaded onto your mobile phone so which means that you can have online chatting and video calling while you are out and about. Instant communication with business associates, friends, and family. And the best part of all this is that it is free for everyone.
How Skype works
Skype is a free VoIP application that allows you to text, voice, and video friends and family anywhere around the world. Skype enables you to speak, see, and instant message other people who are also on Skype. VoIP means voice over internet protocol. In layman's terms, it means using audio and video through the internet web interface on a computer or mobile smartphone.
VoIP does not work without the internet. With VoIP technology, we can send and receive text, images, high-quality stereo sound, and live video through data packets. Receivers such as specialized hardware appliances like smartphones to software applications installed on other mobile terminals and computers are an integral part of VoIP. All these devices must be able to send and receive data packets via an iPv4 network.
All transfers are captured and encoded from analog to digital and then passed to a compressor before the transfer of compressed data packets over a slow connection. These data packets are stamped with the destination address and sent through the network. VoIP was never engineered for live conversations and as such is prone to stutter and latency. The receiver must reconstruct the data packets sequentially for ideal reproduction.
Latency and data loss can cause the reconstruction to be incomplete due to congestion during peak hours. That is why there are sometimes blanks in audio streams and video stutters from frame to frame. Even though VoIP is more versatile than traditional PSTN communications, it has been criticized as being unreliable, especially where power is unstable or intermittent.
Most people still keep landlines for emergency situations where analog phones can operate without power. Where broadband connection and power are available at all times, VoIP technology provides a cheap and comprehensive way to communicate. Many VoIP service providers offer free calls within their user base of internet clients.
Setting up Skype on your pc
Skype is a free VoIP application that can be downloaded onto computers, PCs, smartphones, android phones, and any other computer terminal or hardware. In order to set up Skype, you have to go to the website and download the application according to the type of computer or appliance you are using. For computers with Windows, there is a minimum hardware and software requirement for Skype to work well. They are:
System requirements (for Windows users)
- PC running Windows® XP, Vista, or 7, both 32- and 64-bit operating systems.
- Internet connection – broadband is best (GPRS is not supported for voice calls).
- Speakers and microphone – built-in or separate.
- For voice calls recommend broadband connection with 100 kbps down / 100 kbps up.
- For group video calling everyone on the call needs Skype 5.0 for Windows or Mac or higher plus webcams, and at least one person needs a group video calling subscription. For best quality, we recommend you use a high-speed broadband connection of 4Mbps down / 512kbps up and a computer with a Core 2 Duo 1.8 GHz processor. As a minimum, you’ll need a high-speed broad connection of 512kbps down / 128kbps up and a computer with a 1 GHz processor.
System requirements (for MAC users)
- 1GHz Intel processor
- Mac OS X v10.5.8 (Leopard) or newer.
- 100 MB free disk space.
- Either USB or regular headset if your Mac does not have a built-in microphone.
- Download drivers if you are using an external webcam.
- For voice calls recommend broadband connection with 100 kbps down / 100 kbps up.
- For group video calling everyone on the call needs Skype 5.0 for Windows or Mac or higher plus webcams, and at least one person needs a group video calling subscription. For best quality, we recommend you use a high-speed broadband connection of 4Mbps down/512kbps up and a computer with a Core 2 Duo 1.8 GHz processor. As a minimum, you’ll need a high-speed broad connection of 512kbps down/128kbps up and a computer with a 1 GHz processor.
Skyping over your phone
In order to Skype using your phone, you have to get the right Skype application downloaded onto your phone. There are many different types of Skype versions for different phones like windows phones, android phones, iPhones, and Symbian phones.
Once you have downloaded Skype onto your phone, you will be able to do everything with Skype that you use on your computer. That means online chatting, free Skype to Skype calls, free group video calling, texting, messaging, and more.
Excerpted from the book Skyping Awesomeness.
This excerpt has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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