VOIP - Skype

These days I don’t get much use out of Skype. When I was in the military, I was overseas for over seven years. This is the time when I used it the most. I connected with family back home, especially during the holidays. I remember having some kind of trouble initially because of the countries being different. They had kept trying to insist that I needed to purchase credits to use the program, but I was able to work out getting a United States number and everything was smooth after that.

On occasion I have used Skype to collaborate with other YouTube artists on videos and song parodies. I once was on a phone call with someone producing a science fiction podcast, who recorded my lines through the call as well. I have used it on multiple occasions to live screen share and provide instructions or visuals through calls to someone. The most recent use I have gotten out of the program was to get job testing instructions from a company I had applied to this last year. They delivered the instructions and followed up during and after the test through the messaging portion of the system.

For the most part, however, I use Google Voice to make phone calls and if I need to use video with a call, I can do so through GoogleHangout, or more often – Facebook Calling.

Anyone can benefit from using Skype I would say. I feel as though it has a more business type of feel to it these days than it used to. The mobile application of the program is wonderful for people on the go, but does require an internet connection, so you will need to be on wi-fi or use your mobile service as an internet connection to make use of it. Strictly as a messenger it works great! For video, it is good for domestic calling, but when you start to make international calls, it can become a hassle, although it is still low cost compared to other services. The biggest downfall I think Skype has going for it is that group calling is gated behind their premium service.