Feb 26, 2010 10:03 AM
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With the advancement of technology it is now possible to communicate with people across the world over the internet in an efficient and reliable manner. Gone are those days when we had to worry about the call bills rising per minute during an international call.
Skype software offers voice and video communication between any computers across the globe in an easy and efficient way. The best part is that there is no charge for the services. Two computer users can communicate with each other on Skype if they are online at the same time.
Features of Skype software:
free PC to PC voice/video calls: This is obviously the best feature of skype. Making telephone calls across the world is quite expensive and it is also not possible to see the other person while communicating. The Skype software comes to the rescue and provides a platform for good quality video communication over the internet. It uses VoIP technology for transfer of sound and video data using IP packets.
Conference calls: Skype software offers conference call capabilities as well. Using conference feature, it is possible to communicate with two or more computers at the same time. Conference feature does not support video communication between the users because skype supports only one to one video calling. Only voice communication is allowed. It is a valuable feature for those who wish to communicate with more than one person across the world. Businessmen can use this feature for voice conferencing when they are geographically apart from each other.
Text chat: Skype also supports text chatting. Just like other instant messengers, skype allows users to communicate using text messages along with a variety of emoticons. The messages can be stored for future reference. It is also possible to send offline messages to users that are currently not online.
Send file: Like Yahoo messenger, it is possible to send files across to friends in our skype lists.Users can trade pictures, documents and other files with each other while chatting on skype.
Screen sharing: This is my favorite feature. While video chatting over skype, it is possible to share your screen with the other user. This may be useful for users who wish to help other users in troubleshooting their computer issues remotely by guiding them through the process.
Call forwarding: This feature is not free when forwarding the call to a phone. A call on an offine user's skype account can be automatically forwarded to his/her mobile/home phone with the help of this feature. The free call forwarding feature allows the user to forward all incoming calls to another online skype users' computer.
So with all these feature, skype is a 'must download' software. The paid version of skype offers VoIP calls to landline phones or mobile phones using the internet as a transmission medium. As long as both communicating users have skype installed on their systems, they can freely communicate online without paying a penny for the call. But for calling on a fixed line or mobile phone charges are applicable.
Skype software is platform independent and is compatible with almost all operating systems such as Windows, Mac and Linux.
The latest version of yahoo messenger offers video calls feature but its quality is low as compared to skype. Skype offers almost all the features provided by instant messengers such as Yahoo messenger, MSN, ICQ etc.. Skype uses approx. 30 mb hard disk space and uses reasonably low bandwidth for transfer of data across the network.
I would recommend Skype to people who wish to communicate with their near and dear ones across the world with minimum burden on their pockets and maximum sound and video quality.
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