Skype: Set Your Phone Calls Free via P2P Person to Person via Peer to Peer Wayne Kawamoto
Person to person via peer to peer, Skype offers free telephone calls through the internet. The system is free, easy to use, and works well, and now offers
add-on services that extend its basic calling features with voice mail and the ability to communicate with landline and mobile phones. Using Skype to
talk for free is easy to recommend, but the add-on services, while useful, may not be for everyone.
Through file transfer technology, which lies at the core of file exchange services such as Kazaa and Napster, Skype lets you make free telephone calls to anyone, anywhere in the world through the internet. As a peer to peer (P2P) system, Skype relies on all of the nodes in its network to route and process the traffic that would normally be handled by large central servers. The result is a system that is effective and doesn't ask too much of your computer, which contributes processing power to the network.
Skype is easy to install and use. You simply download the software, install and register it, plug in a headset or a USB phone, and then call friends. Skype's intuitive interface resembles that of an Instant Message client. Instead of dialing phone numbers as you would when using a conventional telephone, you click on the names of people in your contact list to launch calls.
To take advantage of free calling, you do have to convince your family and friends to download, install, and use Skype as well. But once everyone in your circle understands its benefits and clear cost savings over land lines and cell phones, you probably won't have to do much persuading. The phone calls are free, the service is free, and there are no activation fees and no annoying pop-up ads. Does it get any better than this?
Calls made via Skype have good sound quality and are secured with end-to-end encryption. In testing, Skype worked well through existing firewalls and routers — there was no need to make adjustments to accommodate existing security, and, in use, the system suffered little latency. Another plus, Skype didn't significantly lower PC performance.
The system manages contacts in lists so that you can easily "call" them. If you like, you can use the system's instant messaging features, and its conference capabilities allow several people to connect and talk at the same time. The system also supports file transfers.
To help you locate other users, Skype lets you search through its Global User Directory. On the downside, the system's search capabilities are somewhat lacking. While you can search for other users who live near you and meet various criteria, in order to search for specific users you have to know their user names. Furthermore, you have to type their full user names correctly — here, fuzzy search capabilities would be nice. If you like, you can import names from Outlook.
