Skype – Free Internet Telephony That Just Works
(Migrated weblog post from LSR)
How many times have you heard that sentence before ? I am sure quite a few and if that is the case you probably are, by now, one of the above 109 million people who are using Skype worldwide in order to get in touch with family, friends or work colleagues. I am sure that most of us are using one, or multiple, IM clients to just keep in touch with folks. Be it MSN, AIM, ICQ, Yahoo!, Jabber, whatever, we are mostly forced to use different IM clients in order to start chatting with one another.
And since I got tired a little bit of just using multiple IM clients or integrated IM clients like Trillian, GAIM, Miranda, etc. etc. to keep in touch with people I have decided to step over to Skype and give it a go. And ever since I have done that, a few months back now, I have been a very happy Skype user. So much so that I have managed to convert most of my friends, family members and some work colleagues into using this application.
And they all love it ! As much as I do, not only because of its ease of use, or how easy it is to set up and get it running but also because of the huge amount of $$$ they save, instead of just picking up the phone and making that phone call. Maybe at a later time I will weblog about my overall experience on Skype. However, the reason why I wanted to create this weblog entry today was basically because of a problem I have encountered quite often when trying to convert people into using Skype.
Installation and setup normally works really well and very smooth, but as soon as people start searching for me and start a conversation they can hear me very well with plenty of good quality but whenever they talk they would come to me with some very low sound, as if they were thousands of miles away. Well, after searching on the Skype Forums apparently this is a well known problem that has been documented already.
There are a couple of different instructions that people would need to carry out:
After having done that people would need to follow this second set of instructions:
Right click on it and go to Send To… and open it up with Notepad (or your default editor). Once the document is open people will be able to find a whole bunch of different entries. Just scroll down till you locate a similar entry to the following one:
“< MicVolume >255< / MicVolume >
255 is max volume /// 0 AND 255 = 0 = low”
(Notice the spaces on the first line).
After you have found that entry make sure that there is a value there which does not match 255 but something else rather smaller. My setting, for instance, is setup on 31. After that save the changes, restart Skype, and the problem will be gone. You will be able to hear and be heard with the same quality as ever before. So from now on whenever I convert one other friend, family member or work colleague I can just refer them to this weblog entry and they can follow the instructions from here. And then they say that weblogging is not powerful, huh ? Well, this tip will prove them wrong.
[...] Who wouldn’t agree to that statement? Competition is a good thing, specially, for us, end-users, when we get confronted with a number of different tools and we get a chance to try them out in order to make our choice as to what we would consider the best option to go for. Originally, I know that many folks have already made this conscious decision by choosing to use cutting edge technologies like Skype, that would allow you to make use of IM, VoIP, File Transfers, Videoconferencing (Video4Skype and vSkype), etc. etc. I have made that choice myself and so far I have been more than delighted with what I have been offered. Skype is a superb VoIP application to keep in touch with other folks. [...]
[...] Goodness ! It looks like the competition just keeps coming up with some really good tools as we go along and so far there doesn’t seem to be a limit nor any indication as to when it is going to stop. The latest tool that will be rocking the place as far as real-time collaboration is going to be Wavigo. This relatively new tool will actually allow you to do a whole bunch of really cool things. To start with it would allow you to keep track with all your different buddies on most of the different IM protocols available out there: MSN, Yahoo!, ICQ, AOL, pretty much like Trillian does already, although it is still missing the Jabber, the I.R.C. or the Sametime plugins. However, the key advantage from Wavigo in this particular case is the interface with Skype which means you can talk to your Skype buddies through Wavigo. For the first time there is a connection between traditional IM clients and VoIP clients. Really nice ! [...]
[...] You actually find out that the competitors might not have beaten it any time soon. Over the last few days I have been creating a number of different weblog entries on a number of different competitors that are starting to come up to continue taking some market share from Skype, one of the most powerful VoIP / IM clients out there. And it all looked like it was going to be a tough time recovering from some major losses, but, wouldn’t you know it, Skype has just come back with a new plugin that will take online real-time collaboration into new heights: Jyve. [...]
[...] Quality of the VoIP calls: Indeed the quality of the VoIP component in GTalk is at the same level as Skype. No need to say much more on this one. Just that if it keeps it this way, voice quality wise, it would become a very strong competitor against other VoIP clients. [...]
[...] Yes, the article mentions Skype specifically, as the main competitor to Google Talk that has taken things seriously enough to make some further announcements about opening up Skype in order to help improve its many features available and still continue to be ahead of the rest of the competition, which, in my opinion, still is and big time ! [...]
[...] However, this time there may be something going on that I am not sure if it could be considered an unfounded rumour or not. Thing is that there is a whole bunch of web sites, even /., that talk about it all over the place; they are saying that eBay is having some talks to buy Skype and although, according to Kat James, “We’re not commenting on rumors” somehow I feel that there may be something else that is going on behind the scenes. Otherwise why would quite a lot of trusted web sites mention in extensive articles the fact that those talks are taking place. [...]
[...] Indeed, over the last few months I have noticed how I am switching away, little by little, from the traditional Instant Messaging tools into VoIP / IM Tools. I mean, I cannot remember any longer when it was the last time that I fired up ICQ or MSN. Instead, I am finding out that every single morning when I come to work I start loading tools like Skype, Damaka, and, lately, with some of my colleagues, Google Talk. And I seem to be quite content with that because by now I have convinced most of my contacts to make the switch. And it certainly has been worth while the effort. [...]
[...] If you folks have been reading elsua for long enough you probably know by now how my main VoIP / Instant Messaging client at the moment is Skype. I use it on a daily basis and with the latest Beta 2.0 client even more so. However, and with all that said, I still have got a whole bunch of folks that I talk to every now and then who are using Google Talk and who seem to like it so much that it is impossible to try to convince them to use anything else. So I eventually gave in and got myself a Google Talk account. [...]
GMail Becomes a Google Talk Interface…
There is no denying that one of the key fundamental features from any Web 2.0 application out there is its interoperability and its ability of integrating with other applications and perhaps that is one of the reasons why there has……
[...] Indeed, if you are one of those people who are constantly on the road, or working remotely, and doing a fair bit of travelling but you would still need to be able to get in touch with your colleagues so that you can continue collaborating and sharing knowledge with them I think that Meetro would probably be very suitable for your needs. Amongst other things, because it is a very light Instant Messaging client that connects you with some of the most popular IM protocols around (AIM, ICQ, Yahoo!, MSN) -I hope one of these days they would add as well both Skype or Google Talk, so you would be able to keep in touch with your colleagues regardless what IM tool they are using. At the same time you would be able to collaborate using all of the rich text features that you can find in pretty much all of the different IM tools out there, but there is a single feature that will make it unique against all of the other different IM tools. And that is its location awareness capabilities. [...]
[...] There you have them. My top 5 features, amongst many others, like adding the MiniMeetro to your weblog, file transfers, working with groups, etc. etc. that I find quite interesting in order to allow mobile workers to come closer to one another and focus on continuing further with the sharing of knowledge and collaborating than having to worry about which tool would fit in their main needs and that of their buddies. Meetro seems to be fitting that profile quite nicely ! At least, from what I have been able to see myself over the last couple of weeks. Perhaps in another weblog post I will review those same features I indicated above and see how they would come across. Reason why I am saying that is because I do hope they will continue to innovate in this particular space and perhaps bring us the power of VoIP mixed up with the location awareness capabilities of Google Maps. At least, those are two of the main features I am missing from other web offerings, like Skype or Frappr. Let’s see how things will evolve over the next few weeks; for the time being if you are looking for an IM tool where locating your colleagues physically is a must-have then Meetro is your best choice. At least, for now. [...]
Hi – I was checking another blog at zdnet.com about Skype and saw this very interesting post by Russell Shaw – If you are thinking about Skype in your enterprise, YOU MUST read this first located at http://blogs.zdnet.com/ip-telephony/?p=984. The post describes from a network and from sa systems perspective the security risks with Skype and leaves you with some conclusions that suggest operating Skype from within your enterprise would pose some serious security risks. I was also wondering if you had ideas on what was the best of the breed for SIP/VOIP phone services.
Hello Dennis and welcome to elsua! Thanks very much for the feedback comments ! I really appreciate you actually shared with us the weblog post by Russell as I think it adds up some very interesting perspectives that people should be very much aware of whenever they would attempt to make use of Skype in the enterprise. Some food for thought that I will also be sure to follow up on and see what the folks from Skype say. Thus thanks again for that link !
Regarding your second query I am not sure if they would be best of breed but the three of them which I am very fond of and which I have made extensive use of are as follows:
As you will be able to see lots of different options but certainly very worth while exploring and playing around with them. Have a look into the links themselves for some reviews I have done about them in the past. Hope that helps. Thanks again for the feedback !
[...] Plazer, pretty much like its predecessor, will give you now the opportunity to indicate at all times where you are by reading the MAC address of your machine and sending it back to the Plazes server. Then from there people who may be able to check your profile will be able to find out where you are at that time. Here is my profile to give you an idea of what it looks like. You will also be able to notice how the new Plazer has got as well the integration features of other applications from the previous version, so you will be able to access people’s pictures from Flickr, connect with then through various IM clients, including Skype, send different e-mail messages from inside of the tool itself and so forth. And all of that manageable from a launchpad. Quite interesting if you would want to have all those resources available to you for all your mobile coworkers and with a very lightweight client installed in your machine. [...]
Reality Check: Jajah…
In the past I have mentioned how I always wanted to talk about one of my favourite VoIP offerings currently available out there and which has made things a lot easier specially when I am on the road or away……
I am in USA – new to internet – how much
and how do I get free anything ;mail or phone etc
- I use a free computer at the library-thank
you- if you can please give me some information .
Hi Bob, well, if you live in the US now you actually have got a couple of good choices. Obviously, for e-mail you can always make use of GMail, or Yahoo! Mail. Whatever is easier for you. And if you can install it for your free of charge calls you can make use of Skype which offers free calls to landlines in the US and Canada. So you may want to give it a try, as long as you would be able to install it at that particular computer. Good luck !
[...] At the same time that it puts together that location awareness option it has got a lovely integration with already existing tools like Skype, Flickr, Google Maps and Multimap. So as you can see there are multiple layers you can use in order to stay connected with other folks. [...]