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Skype anyone?

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by GreenMachine, Jan 6, 2006.

  1. GreenMachine

    GreenMachine New Member

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    Is everyone aware of Skype --- a Voice over IP program?

    Calls using your computer are free to anyone in the world who also has Skype installed on their computer. You really do need a headset to keep down feedback, but with one the quality rivals land lines. The calls are encrypted.

    Skype was bought out by Ebay a few months ago. It works as a peer to peer program and was developed by the people who brought us Kazzaa.

    You can also call someone's land line for about .02 US, per minute anywhere in the US, Europe and Australia among a few other places.

    Some of the more technical members may have security or other reservations, but I have had no problems in a year of use.

    http://skype.com/ if anyone is interested.
     
    #1 GreenMachine, Jan 6, 2006
  2. Mystery Squid

    Mystery Squid Junior Member

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    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

    Get that shiat off your computer!!!

    yeah, it's a neat idea, but in exchange, your PC suddenly becomes a conduit for everyone ELSE'S phone calls, even when you're not using it...... It almost brought my home network to a halt because of all the activity.....
     
    #2 Mystery Squid, Jan 6, 2006
  3. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Yeah I'm aware of it. I used it to keep in touch with my family when I was in Edmonton back in 2003. Except that I don't use the VOIP feature, I use the Skype-Skype feature so just talking over the computer.
     
    #3 Tideland Prius, Jan 7, 2006
  4. jbarnhart

    jbarnhart New Member

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    I find this puzzling. I have Skype running on several systems, all behind firewalls which have activity pages I monitor. I see no increase in activity when the systems are not actually calling on Skype. Do you have evidence of Skype bringing down your network? How much bandwidth did it consume?
     
    #4 jbarnhart, Jan 7, 2006
  5. Mystery Squid

    Mystery Squid Junior Member

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    Yeah, as a matter of fact, I did have a HUGE log of skype traffic. It never actually "brought down" the network, but rather slowed it down noticably. I'll TRY to dig it up, but it was months ago, and honestly, I have no urge to dig up old research.

    Glad to hear it's working good for you.

    ;)
     
    #5 Mystery Squid, Jan 7, 2006
  6. DaveinOlyWA

    DaveinOlyWA 3rd Time was Solariffic!!

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    use vonnage then. i can remember when VoIP was free...those were the days... transmitting over an ISDN line. average drops per call...5 actually worked great if you took steps to make sure no processes started up when you were on. even if they used no bandwidth, it was still enough to kick you off. but in those days, broadband was the sole realm of the rich
     
    #6 DaveinOlyWA, Jan 8, 2006
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