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I need to talk to Australia for 90 minutes. I don't have phone service to Oz, and another option is skype. However I know exactly diddly about skype; like, can the other person call me and I don't have to do anything but answer my phone (he has skype.) Do I have to also have skype? Do I have to put something on my computer and use it? (my internet goes down at a whim, and I'd not like to rely on it.) Did you know that there is more useful information HERE than on most of the rest of the internet?

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Skype can work in a variety of ways. The most popular (and free) to use it is to talk from one computer to another computer on which both have skype installed. To do this, you would need to install Skype on your computer an use it while connected to the internet. Skype can also be used to call a landline. However, that service is not free. (It cost about 2.5 cents a minute). The rates go down, if you decide to take an agreement or a plan.

Personally, I have used the free service. If your connection is not great, you could just have the call done without video.

As long as both callers have a decent broadband Internet connection, Skype works quite well, especially for a free service.

My wife uses it to talk to her family in Japan very frequently. From Japan to the USA it works well. But from some other countries- notably China and the Philippines- it's hit-or-miss.

One thing that I've found helps is NOT to use the highest-resolution webcam you can find. The higher the resolution, the more data that has to be sent, which increases the chance of distortion or dropped connections. The small webcams you find in laptops work well.

Google Voice is a free option.

If you both have an iPad2 (or higher) you can use "face time". You just need to know the other person's email address that they use with Apple's App Store. It's free. We use it all the time to chat with our kids and grand kids.

OK, I know this is going to sound stupid, but my computer expertise is limited to something called the engineering bed with a high level language on top of it. I know zilch about anything else.
So...I have a piece of tape on the thing that looks like a camera lens at the top of my screen. I don't know if I have a microphone or some kind or built-in camera. How do I find these out? This call is next Mon night and it needs to work the first time, so I can't diddle around and have it not work. If I do the skype I get a recording of the phone call, if the other party calls me on just the phone, I do not. But if I get skype I'd want to do a couple of trial runs to make sure the thing works before I get into the call to Oz.

MaryAnn wrote:OK, I know this is going to sound stupid, but my computer expertise is limited to something called the engineering bed with a high level language on top of it.

Did you get it from Procrustes? I guess his was probably a version or two before the high level language on top.

I would assume you can leave the tape on, if you don't want the other party to actually see you. Good plan to make a couple trials, hopefully with someone on the other end who has experience with Skype (unlike me.)

The engineering bed is what I used to use at work when I programmed things for electrical transmission systems in a language called COPE. It's not on my home computer.
I don't have skype yet. I don't know if I have a camera or a microphone. All I know is that it appears there is a lens, and I currently have it covered with tape. I would prefer video for the call. I wasn't kidding about being stupid because I don't know how to find out if the laptop has a camera or just a lens, or if it has a microphone, or can I put on a headset and have it work.

See if this link might help:
http://www.ehow.com/how_6722592_tell-mi ... aptop.html

Skype works well and they've done a good job trying to make it 'easy'. When you load and set up the app, it will run you through a test for your system including a test call to a 'mirror' site.

Most likely if you computer has a camera, the microphone is also built in. If not, even the cheapo 'GE' cameras at Target work well enough for one-off use.

Skype is free to download - so give it a shot in the morning - you'll know within a few minutes if it will work well enough for your call on Monday.

Ricko