VoIP

Skype is a wonderful service! Cousin in Toronto convinced me to sign on and it allows us to talk using voip at no charge. Since my first talk, I've also found a longtime friend online, who lives in Saipan. She also skypes to keep in touch with her daughter, who lives in Japan; and now we skype, too. It's a trip to consider the time difference: I called her on Memorial Day, and it was already Tuesday in Saipan.

Now I've got a new toy: Magic Jack. We needed to replace our telephone, so I went shopping at Radio Shack. Got the phone, and a 20% discount would apply if I purchased the Magic Jack. So, what the hey! I like gadgets, and this one looked useful. It's a portable phone jack that you plug into any USB port on your computer or laptop, and the phone cord that normally would go from your phone to your wall jack plugs into the other end. This allows you to use your phone handset to make and receive VoIP calls. Free in the US and Canada. To land lines or cell phones. Unlimited minutes. For $19.95 per YEAR! And the purchase price includes the first year of service.

It installs its software that manages the calls, your contacts, and your voicemail; you get a new phone number that can be forwarded; if you are calling from your home address, it even works for emergency 911 calls.

I bought it because when Husband travels out of the country, our cell phone bill skyrockets due to international roaming fees. With his Magic Jack, he can make free calls home. The difference between Magic Jack and Skype is that with Skype, the calls are only free to another Skype user who happens to be online at the same time; if you call a land line, there is a fee. With Magic Jack, calls to a land line are free, and the person you're calling need not be online. Also, if you have a cordless phone, you don't need to be tethered to the computer! Walk around! It's wild!

Meebo Me!

I've been thinking of ways to keep in touch with the family while we're on vacation. Cell phone calls will cost almost $3 per minute in roaming fees, even though I've activated worldwide roaming service through my carrier. So I needed to find a way to manage keeping in touch without using a cell phone. Here's what I've worked out so far:

1. Skype - make voice calls using a computer, microphone and speakers. Adding a webcam allows live video, as well. My Skype ID is asowens51us.


2. Old-fashioned e-mail, the asynchronous way to communicate. It's not real time, but allows lengthy and descriptive communiques.


3. Meebo Me - I've created a Meebo widget in the right sidebar of this blog which allows you to send me a message in real time, even if you don't have an instant messenger account. You will see instantly whether or not I'm online. Just type in the lower box, and your message appears in the top box, along with my replies. You can edit your "nickname" so I know who you are. Even if I'm not online at the moment, you can still leave a message. Try it out!
   

I Think my Skype is Fixed

Skype is a service that provides voice communication via your computer, instead of a telephone. The only requirements are the free software download, a microphone and speakers or headset. If you also have a webcam, you can even send video of yourself, so the other person can see you while you're talking. If he, in turn, has a webcam, you can have a two-way video conversation. For Free! Worldwide!

Here's me, as you would see me if we were skyping.

I was really disappointed this summer, while visiting Mom, to find that somehow my Skype couldn't record my audio. I was hoping to be able to set up a connection with Michael in Toronto, so Mom could talk to him. Although I could hear incoming calls, the microphone couldn't send my voice. I think there was a conflict with something else that was trying to use the sound card, but we weren't able to resolve the problem before we left.

Finally, tonight, I uninstalled, then reinstalled the camera drivers, and made two successful Skype test calls. I think I'm back in business, just in time for our trip to Malta later this month. If we leave one of the laptops at home, we should be able to have video conversations with the kids while we're away, and save the cost of an international cellphone call.

In case you get inspired, my Skype ID is "asowens51us". Skype me if I'm online!

New Blogger Platform

Last night, I migrated my blogs to the new Blogger platform. There should be no changes in the look, but additional features are now supposedly available. I'm still exploring, and have not found them all yet. Because Blogger was recently acquired by Google, I'm sure there will be integration with Google gadgets, widgets and features down the line.

My latest exploit is to open a Skype account. Skype is a technology that lets you use your computer to make telephone calls. If you have a microphone and speakers, you use the Skype software to connect with a computer or dial a phone number, and speak into the microphone. Your caller's voice is broadcast through the computer's speakers or a headset. We already use similar software at the library in our Telephone Reference Service, but we have handsets attached to the computers that make it feel more like using a traditional telephone.

My cousin Michael called me last night from Toronto via Skype, and although there was an annoying echo of my side of the conversation, the sound quality was very clear and I could talk to both Mike and Debbie easily. (Mike said the echo was his microphone picking up my conversation from the speakers and feeding it back to me.) I decided to get an account, too, and look forward to digital conversations with family and friends! Skype can call land lines; but can land lines call Skype?