Video calling has been around for a while now, but it’s finally resurged recently due to the growing amount of devices with front cameras.
Apart from the advantage of letting you see who you’re talking to, video calls also have the advantage of being cheaper than regular calls (and much cheaper if we’re talking about international calls), and much much cheaper if you’re using Skype. That’s what this article’s about, Skype, most people’s preferred video calling system.
Skype is a service you can find on the internet allowing you to make free calls to anybody no matter where they are just as long as they’re also Skype users. It also lets you send free instant messages by Voice over internet protocol.
Running on Mac, Windows, Linux, a few cordless phones, lots of mobiles and the Sony PSP, Skype calls are for free except for calls to mobile phone or landline numbers. On the other hand, for Skype-to-Skype calls to work both users need to have the software installed.
Once you’ve installed Skype, you have to set up a Skype account, and that’s where charged calls are deducted from.
It’s also necessary for you to have an internet connection on your phone of course.
You can also download the Skype app for either iPhone here, for Symbian here or for Android here, depending on which device you own. In order to download the iPhone one, which has been out since 2010 bringing every part of Skype’s functionality (from cheap international calls to Skype-to-Skype calls) to the phone, you just have to search for ‘Skype’ on the iPhone’s App Store. It works on most Apple devices (iPad, iPod Touch and iPhone).
Skype was released for Nokia phones as an application on Nokia’s Ovi store in 2010, just like for Android (for devices running Android 2.1 and above).
Free Skype Video Conference
We usually use Skype for one-on-one video calls, nevertheless we can also can an advantage of group video calling which is actually a great feature for companies and businesses who often have meetings with people out of their workplace or just for those whoa re away from home and want to talk to their relatives or friends. Skype is th first app to have been offering this service for already a couple of years.
Nevertheless, up to the recent times Skype has allowed no more than 3 participants in a video conference using the app for free. With premium version you could have added more people. So, basically, you had to pay for group video calls. However, users didn’t have to get upset as there were lots of alternatives where they could get the feature, like Google Hangouts. This app offered the function of group video calls that made people use it, instead of Skype, every time they needed it.
Probably, just because of the reason Skype didn’t want to lose users… But now it is offering video conferences for free, for up to 10 participants! No extra payments! Companies who use this service for communication can cut back on their video conference budget, however, you have to get the latest version of Skype installed on your desktop.
For the moment, this feature is available only on the web version. We hope that soon it might also become available on mobile. Until then, please use Skype on your desktop to call your family, friends or business partners.
