who uses Skype?

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97tbird

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a friend of mine living in Europe finally convinced me to get Skype, so we can call each other for free (pc to pc), and I installed it last night, and it seems to work fine, even just using the built in laptop mic.

But how safe is it? any negative aspects of skype?

I use the following SW on my laptop:

Avira free
SuperAntiSpyware
Malware Bytes
CCleaner
SpyWareBlaster
SPybot
 
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I worked on a 6 month project where we evaluated many different voice and video products. Skype is fine for what it is, although we found Google voice and video to perform better.

as far as safety, what do you mean? will the software harm your PC? no. are you safe from eavesdropping? the answer may suprise many: the biggest threat of from your own node of the network, followed by "peeking" from ISP employees. as far as "sniffing" the actual internet backbone, it's essentially unheard of to have a "man in the middle" attach of network traffic.
 
Great product If you're OK with them using your computer. And what do they mean by "Skype will use commercially reasonable efforts to protect your privacy"

"Utilization of Your Computer: Skype Software may utilize the processor and bandwidth of the computer (or other applicable device) You are utilizing, for the limited purpose of facilitating the communication between Skype Software users. Skype will use its commercially reasonable efforts to protect the privacy and integrity of the computer resources (or other applicable device) You are utilizing and of Your communication, however Skype cannot give any warranties in this respect."
 
We have used Skype for a couple of years for both computer to computer calls world wide + we pay $2.95 a month and use it for computer to phone/cell phone calls.

The $2.95 gives us unlimited calls in the United States and Canada.

As far as security guess it is as secure as anything one does over the internet or network as once you hook up, their will be some security issues browsing the web, email, etc.

If there is a back door, etc., folks would be find that monitoring our calls would be of no value to them.

I have always found Skype's web site helpful and they always answered any email I sent them promptly.
 
Originally Posted By: 97tbird
But how safe is it?

No safer and no more harmful than any other instant messenger out there.

I've been using Skype (both for personal and work) for about 6 years now. I videoconference with my parents over Skype every week.

Our company is pretty strict on internet use, but they allow Skype. They actually encourage it as it saves the company money.
 
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cool - thanks for the info and feedback.
It sounds amazingly clear (calls from europe pc to pc) even using my laptop mic, according to my friend in Austria. nice..don't even have to buy a headset :)
 
Yeah, Skype has their proprietary audio codec that they use. Audio quality is far better than a traditional fixed line phone connection.
 
FWIW, their Linux version and support *suck*, and their Mac version is 2 versions behind.

I like Google voice and video better, like some of the other posters here, but stick with Skype in a lot of cases because of its' magic ability to work around and behind restrictive firewalls.
 
Skype does what it supposed to do. I just did not like the fact that when I am not using skype, my computer is used by the software to route calls to other users. I stopped using it few years back. They may have changed their policy since then.
 
Is there a way to get google voice on iPhone? It told me I have to wait for an invite and I can't find google voice app in the app store. I'd love to use an iphone without connection as a wifi phone for free.
 
use it for video calls to family overseas, average quality. sound quality tends to vary a lot and is definitely not crystal clear. i think the foreign bandwidth is the problem though.

.in any case it lets my kids and my parent ssee each other each week so they are not total strangers.

if you install skype at work it is an immediate sacking offence. apparently the company does not like the security issues (the reason they said) but i think t hey don't want people goofing off.
 
Originally Posted By: PandaBear
Is there a way to get google voice on iPhone? It told me I have to wait for an invite and I can't find google voice app in the app store. I'd love to use an iphone without connection as a wifi phone for free.

Google voice is not a VoIP service.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Yeah, Skype has their proprietary audio codec that they use. Audio quality is far better than a traditional fixed line phone connection.


Not on my Droid
frown.gif
They must be compressing it more.
 
Originally Posted By: chevrofreak
Originally Posted By: PandaBear
Is there a way to get google voice on iPhone? It told me I have to wait for an invite and I can't find google voice app in the app store. I'd love to use an iphone without connection as a wifi phone for free.

Google voice is not a VoIP service.


What do you mean? It's voice going through Internet Protocol
 
Originally Posted By: CivicFan
Originally Posted By: chevrofreak

Google voice is not a VoIP service.


What do you mean? It's voice going through Internet Protocol

Yeah, seriously, if it's not VoIP, then what is it?
 
I think Pandabear meant Google Talk. Google Talk has an app.

Google Voice is a web based service and does not have an app. It's more like a switchboard/voicemail/SMS service.

"Talk" is VOIP. "Voice" is not strictly a VOIP service but a hybrid. My apologies to chevrofreak.
 
Originally Posted By: uc50ic4more
FWIW, their Linux version and support *suck*, and their Mac version is 2 versions behind.

I like Google voice and video better, like some of the other posters here, but stick with Skype in a lot of cases because of its' magic ability to work around and behind restrictive firewalls.


I use Skype in Linux Ubuntu 64 bit without any problems both on my desktop and laptop.
 
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