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tim

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Anyone else doing this?

It is the way ahead for phone calls. My mum lives in Florida and now we can call for free.

You do need broadband but apart from that, nothing else except a microphone and speakers.

http://www.skype.com

Cheers

Tim
 
Nearly everyone in our office uses it.

Adam
 
Yep, brilliant - although the handset we've got is cheap nasty looking. Need something that looks less like a toy phone.

Using it to talk to friends in Austrailia.

Cheers

Howard
 
Howjoe":ct95wp14 said:
Yep, brilliant - although the handset we've got is cheap nasty looking. Need something that looks less like a toy phone.

Using it to talk to friends in Australia.

Cheers

Howard

Howard, can you please enlighten me? I thought you needed a microphone attached to the PC?
 
Can't you get wireless headsets now - so you don't even need to be near the PC?

Adam
 
tim":3c1vwy1t said:
Anyone else doing this?

It is the way ahead for phone calls. My mum lives in Florida and now we can call for free.

You do need broadband but apart from that, nothing else except a microphone and speakers.

http://www.skype.com

Cheers

Tim
Dont go for the headset option there is a VoIP phone now that costs about £10 from E bay. It plugs into the USB port work a treat. I only talk to one person who does not have broadband and it is only just workable - very long delays.
You can also call regular phones through most of Europe including UK & US for 1.17p
 
Adam":2gudmnmr said:
Can't you get wireless headsets now - so you don't even need to be near the PC?

Adam
You can now get a box that allows you to plug your existing DECT phone + Skype phone together and take the calls on your DECT cordless phone.
 
Chris":2a1bwwg6 said:
can you please enlighten me? I thought you needed a microphone attached to the PC?

Chris - you can do this - although my laptop has a mike built in or you can get USB phones. Amazon have lots of USB and Voip phones so I haven't put in a link.

Cheers


Tim

Who sounds like he knows what he's talking about but, as usual, doesn't!
 
Barry Burgess":gwn7udc6 said:
You can now get a box that allows you to plug your existing DECT phone + Skype phone together and take the calls on your DECT cordless phone.

Where do you get them Barry?

SWMBO works for the International Labour Organisation in Geneva and they're going over to using it officially. If it's good enough for the UN it's good enough for me! We're supposed to be getting broadband in the village in the next few weeks
 
havent used it but heard nothing but good things about it... i think it realy is the future
 
You can additionally use a blue tooth mobile phone earpice with a bluetooth enabled laptop.
 
waterhead37":rchkmqqc said:
Howjoe":rchkmqqc said:
Yep, brilliant - although the handset we've got is cheap nasty looking. Need something that looks less like a toy phone.

Using it to talk to friends in Australia.

Cheers

Howard

Howard, can you please enlighten me? I thought you needed a microphone attached to the PC?

Chris, Others have beat me to it. It's literally a handset like a a normal phone. The packaging just stated 'USB VoIP Phone' My wife bought it - think it came from John Lewis. Plugs straight into the USB. I've heard the wireless headsets aren't as good, but I'm sure their are exceptions to that.

Cheers

Howard
 
Couple of questions for those that know

1) Does the broadband speed affect performance especially if each end of the call are at different speeds?

2) Can inbuilt mics and speakers be used or are they likely to affect sound quality?

Andy
 
1) Does the broadband speed affect performance especially if each end of the call are at different speeds?

VOIP does not need amazing speed so any broadband connection should be ok - The only problems I've had with it are with dial up links or sattelite broadband (horrid delay!)

2) Can inbuilt mics and speakers be used or are they likely to affect sound quality?
It works if you're stuck, or if you just want to try it out, but it is certainly not ideal.

Like others, I see this as the way forward - it even let's you call standard phones at very competitive rates.

Les
 
Les, thanks. I'll certanly try out the inbuilt mic/speakers as i is often useful for both of us to hear what is being said. I'm trying to get the folks in France interested, it would certainly save us a few bob.


Andy
 
I expect this will be considered boring and will be dismissed without comment... but,

Costs nothing eh? - what about the £15-£20 p.m. for each end of the line?. Frinstance, it's costs me a teeny 2p per minute to call the US - anytime, even 18p per minute to Belize (Band 10) doesn't hurt that bad, using "Justdial Saver".

Does anyone stop and consider how much CO2 is going to be needlessly produced when everyone has their 200W PC's running 24/7 just to get the functionality of the telephone?. Sheesh!- and we call this progress?
 
Ike,

You make a very fair point there! For me the broadband cost is incidental as I require it for my business anyway - in fact the advent of broadband is slowly but surely meaning that I can work remotely more and more therby reducing car travel and saving on emisions :)

I suspect what you will see hapening soon is suppliers offering VOIP Phone services in a box - i.e. supplying you with a handset that you plug in to a broadband connection and make calls - without telling you that in effect they are using broadband. In fact this sort of idea has been the subject of many discussions in my home - My old man was involved in the precursor to the internet in europe and always fought for a system where a state body provided high speed links to all houses, the "service providers" sold services over them - this was long before the invention of the www.

That went off at a tangent - but I know what I mean, even if everyon e else is looking at me sideways :roll:

Les
 

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