Skype has been around for several years. Initially as a voice-to-voice over the internet and from internet to land line, etc.; and then to video chat.
I use it to do video chats every couple of weeks with my parents and in-laws so that my kids can have time with their grandparents more frequently than the 2-3 times a year that we physically see them.
What do you use it for, if it all? Is there something better?
Our daughter is in Germany, so Skype is great for us. We don’t usually use the video, since my wife talks to her for an hour, for free, but it saves a lot of money, and we could see her apartment and she can see the dog every so often.
My wife also talks to her father, who is 95, on Skype, so it is pretty simple.
I’ve never looked for anything better, since Skype works just fine.
I use it for the same thing as Omar Little does. I use the video chat so I can talk with my parents and so they can see their grandchild. I’ve found the last version of Skype to be a bit of a memory hog and a bit more prone to crashing during calls.
I haven’t used it very much, but Google Chat is pretty comparable. My aunt prefers it to Skype. I would use it more, but I would have to get someone to install it on my parent’s computer.
I used it quite a bit when my brother was deployed to Afghanistan. It was really pretty amazing that it worked so well despite the distance and somewhat limited bandwidth available at his end.
My business partners are in the UK and we use it extensively to chat. But we don’t use the video much.
I use it for business a lot. My client and I use it frequently to screen share. For 1-1 video it’s less of a hassle than webex et alia.
My wife and I use it to talk with our daughter on the other side of the world, since she produced a grandson for us earlier this year. (I’ve only seen this grandson in photographs and on Skype.)
Good point. We use the screen share a lot. Although I also like LogMeIn, if I need remote control.
This thread is of interest to me as we’re expecting our first child in October and my parents want us to sign up for Skype. I’ve never used it, and feel slightly bad that my 62-year-old mother is saying things like “You really should, it’s very simple…”. Er, excuse me, shouldn’t this be the other way round?
So Skype to Skype voice calls are free, right? But you have to pay for video?
No, video calls are free as well. Both parties just need to sign up and download the software. You both also need a webcam on your respective computers. One party makes a “video call” to the other, and they answer. You then see the other person and are able to talk them in real time (assuming that both of you have hi-speed internet connections). We do this even on my wife’s lap-top using the wi-fi in our home. You can full screen the images of the other party, and your image is on a small screen in the corner, so you can see what they see.
No, even video is free.
The service is usually pretty good, but you do get the occasional call where the video freezes or the speech goes robotic. The video especially is dependent on the quality of the computer - our notebook, for example, can only really cope when plugged into the mains.
As a means of keeping in touch with far-flung friends and family, it’s got a lot to recommend it.
Screen sharing is brilliant; when my girlfriend and I were living apart, we’d watch TV that way. Audio had to be managed a bit, but it worked really well.
I’ve used it for video chat and for phone calls overseas. I recently used the video for a band rehearsal when I could not make it to the actual practice space. Ideally I would have used a microphone and my instrument through my Firewire interface (instead of the built-in audio), but Skype still seems to not support this, even though it shows up as an input and output device. I’ve heard of workarounds for this, but I haven’t been able to actually get it to work. As it was, the session was still very useful.
Everyone on my Skype is there because of me. Seems odd that they hadn’t got it together independently. I’ve nagged them all into it. I live in the West Indies, so I’m chatting with friends in France, Australia, England, Ireland, Canada etc I also use it to talk locally.
An English friend (well, Cornwall) just signed up yesterday after about three years of nagging. What a laugh. She couldn’t get the sound to work and was holding up hand written signs for me to read until I managed to get her to find the “chat” button. I like to show people around my garden on it. A friend comes over to use his and he conference calls his dad and uncle in the US and Canada using their cell phones - pretty good and cheap too.
We use Skype all the time to talk to my in-laws in Australia. They get to see our two little boys and we were able to give them a tour of the house we just bought. We always use the video chat and have had a few problems here and there with it freezing up, but for the most part, it works out really well for us. My nearly 80-year-old mother-in-law actually prodded us into getting set up after she went out and got a webcam for her computer.
Skype has been a lifesaver for me in allowing me to communicate with my family in the States. I use the instant messaging feature more often though, since I have to buy internet airtime scratchcards - voice and video really uses up the credit, though I do indulge as often as possible.
My girlfriend lives in Italy and Skype makes such a difference to us - it’s lovely being able to see her face when we talk.
The only drawback is I can’t use the bathroom while we’re chatting like I do when we’re on the phone. 
We live in Australia and all our family is either in Italy or New Zealand, so it’s great for Baby From Mars to learn who her extended family is - she has relationships with both sets of grandparents and her cousins even though she sees them in real life very rarely. We use it every few weeks on video for the mundane stuff - she regularly has dinner with her Nonni etc which is great.
Flash back a generation when I was little and we lived away from all of our rellies - international phone calls were too expensive and we made do with cassette tapes which took weeks to pass back and forwards. Then again, they are wonderful to listen to now whereas we will have no record of our Skype calls.