Posted by Tom on April 23, 2008, 7:40 am
189.182.9.119

JBay Folk... I hesitate to advocate for things such as Skype, but we have been using it all winter from down here in Mexico and I fail to see any down-side. It all sounded good a couple of years ago, so we tried it out. We were not impressed with the quality of the communications, so we quit. This year, we tried it again and have found it much improved. Literally, we could not maintain this lifestyle without it. On a typical day, Bruce spends several hours in teleconference with his clients in Alaska. If he had to use conventional means, it would drastically change the economics and his ability to do his work from Mexico. A good headset is essential to satisfactory results. Although you can call any telephone number in the world for a very low fee, the quality is better when both you and the other person are using Skype. When both parties have Skype, the quality is better and it is free. Downloading Skype is free. If or when you do so, you will be asked if you wish to pay $10 for your use when you call a telephone number other than another Skype person. If you do not, you cannot call anyone who does not have Skype. I recommend paying the $10. You will be amazed at how long it lasts. I have not detected that our memberships have caused pop-up ads or email spam. Skype is totally non aggressive about selling you other services or upgrading to membership that can include call forwarding and voice mail (like an answering machine). I am not really all that hot about chatting on the phone, but if I want to ask someone like Jared a simple question and it winds up to be well over an hours worth of answers... no problem. I have my membership configured so that friends can see when I am on line at my computer. Often, my dad is also on line. When he sees that I have turned on my computer, he gives me Skype call just to see what is up. My parents really enjoy seeing us "on cam" while we chat. Of course, the cam part is also free but optional. Too good to be true? Maybe. I would appreciate hearing any views to the contrary. Tom