Long Distance Phone Calls are Free with Skype...

Yes, this really is true, and it can be at great savings! Plus, it also helps you to stay in touch with family and friends, because you don't have to spend the time watching the clock worrying that all this talk about the weather is costing you dollars!

We heard about Skype some time ago, and thought, yes, right, sure it's free, and carried on paying our telephone company huge amounts to keep in touch with family and friends.

Then one daughter moved to an island where there was no form of communication, other than by mail - once a month when the helicopter takes it over with their food supplies for the next month - or over a radio phone line, where everyone in the vicinity of her little island listened in. It was then I realized how much I missed talking to her. We'd try on the radio phone, but reception was poor, very poor, and we couldn't really talk about anything except the weather, unless we wanted everyone else to hear about it too!

However, life improved for me when she got a satellite connection to her computer. She did some research about free phone calls, and found out about this great service called Skype , and  called our land line. But because of her position in the middle of absolutely nowhere, and because of her satellite connection not being there all the time - it's very dependant on clear skies where she is - the reception wasn't the greatest, but when she called us computer to computer it was amazing. Not only could we hear one another clearly, but we could talk about anything and everything, and the best part, there is no cost to talk to other Skype users.

So we now use this more and more to talk computer to computer, even for business calls, and conference calls. The reception is every bit as good or better than the reception on land lines. And if you are in a civilized part of the world - unlike my daughter who collects rain water for all their water supplies - then calling form your computer to a land line should be no problem using Skype.

Plus we can call non-Skype users for a fraction of the cost charged by phone companies and even the phone cards. It costs us about 2, yes, two cents per minute ( US cents), that's from most countries to most other countries using Skype to non-users. This is an amazing rate, as I'm sure you will agree. The service is called SkypeOut, and  like phone cards, you purchase some minutes in advance, about US$10 I think it is. That's over seven hours of talking for only $10!

There is another service called SkypeIn, for you to get your own regular phone number, so if your friends who aren’t using Skype want to call you by dialing a regular number, you can still receive the call in Skype. No matter where you are. And again it is inexpensive, about US$ 12 for a 3 month period. Just one thing you should be aware of, and that is that you cannot make emergency 911 calls using Skype, but other than that it is a great service.

So, there you go, Skype is a wonderful way to keep in touch for no cost or worst case just a couple of cents per minute!

And in case you are wondering just why my daughter is on an island in the middle of nowhere, well, that's a story for another day!