Are You A FOODIE?

Tech Hero

by Michael Penner

Using your PC and the internet for cheap voice and video calls has always been plagued by issues of quality and setup complexity. One of the biggest offenders of poor call quality, it turns out, is MagicJack. When it first appeared several years ago, Magic Jack seemed truly promising. But the infrastructure it runs on never evolved to the point where it could be considered a viable alternative to more mature solutions (and more expensive) like Vonage. Fortunately there is SKYPE, a service that has been around for over 10 years as an instant messaging utility on the PC and Mac, and which has now evolved into a crystal clear, highly reliable alternative to both Vonage and MagicJack for both voice and video calls using the internet.

What It Is

SKYPE is software that you load onto your computer, for free. It detects your audio and video capabilities and configures itself to use those items when you are ready. When you install SKYPE, you will be asked to create a SKYPE user account. Once you’ve done this, you’re all set. You may now text chat with other SKYPE users, place free voice and video calls to other SKYPE users, or place calls to cells phones and land lines within the US and Canada for a flat rate of $2.95/mo. Video calls can be made to Smartphones, such as Droid or the iPhone, that have SKYPE Mobile installed.

What it Costs

For $2.95/mo. I get unlimited calls to the U.S. and Canada that actually sound like I’m using a phone, and not my computer, to make the call.

Why Its Cool

The video call feature is not a frivolous afterthought, and the voice call quality is often better than a cell phone. SKYPE Video is superb and works well even with the super cheap video cameras embedded in many laptops. SKYPE’s voice mail feature is also a lesson in how to do things right. When you have a voice mail, you get notified of such in e-mail and on your main SKYPE screen. A small PLAY button appears along with the length of the message. SKYPE has a full contact manager built into it, so you can store phone numbers just like in your cell phone.

I use my Acer AspireOne subnotebook connected to my wireless network and wander around my office or home talking on SKYPE. Iike to pace when I talk, not sit down strapped to a computer via a headset. Going wireless with MagicJack creates problems because the device wants a lot of bandwidth to deliver minimally acceptable call quality…meaning you really should be plugged into an ethernet cable and not using a wireless connection. Not so with SKYPE. I’ve even used SKYPE with my Verizon wireless card while driving between Visalia and San Luis Obispo (I was not driving, my wife was) and experienced zero call quality issues.

But the coolest part is this: television sets from LG Electronics and Panasonic were demoed at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this year that have Skype software built into them. This means soon we’ll all be sitting in our living room, placing video calls on large flat screen TV’s at the touch of a button. Now that might be television worth actually watching.