For the past 3 weeks, my husband has been traveling for both work and leisure. As you can imagine, it’s been a challenge trying to juggle engaging our kids, ensuring we have clean laundry and fresh food on the table, and all the other day-to-day tasks that comprise our life. But what made these past 3 weeks even more difficult was our inability to talk via phone. My husband did not set up an international line for his cell phone so we had to rely on Skype in order to communicate.
Both my husband and I travel quite a bit for work and leisure, thus we’ve been long-time fans of Skype. Our kids seriously miss us when we’re away, so the ability to see and hear us is as close to being with us as possible when we’re gone. Next month we’ll take a vacation away from our kids and Skype will be our primary way of communicating. Beyond the simple voice and video chat, we’ll explore non-traditional ways to use the free service such as sending photos and videos of our adventures so they can be with us in the moment. I love that Skype allows users to send files of any size for free.
Photo Credit: Skype
Another feature we’ve been exploring is the ability to group chat. My husband’s family lives in the South East, and very often we’ll Skype between his parents, his sister and her husband, and ourselves. In order to make group video calls, you’ll need the latest version of Skype (5.0 or higher) and a Skype Premium account which, at present, is just $4.99 per month (a 50% savings). One of the things I learned is that only one of the participating parties has to have a premium account but everyone has to have Skype 5.0 or higher. Simply ensure you have a broadband connection and a webcam and you’re ready to begin your group video chat.
While many of Skype’s services are free, you might consider a premium account if you think you’ll be participating in group video calls (definitely a valuable resource if your job requires this), unlimited calls to the US and Canada, instant messaging and more.
Skype is a service we’ve used for a long time now, primarily for the ability to video chat for free with friends and family. Over the past 3 months, I’ve had an opportunity to explore all that Skype has to offer and I’m even more impressed with the service.
Here is some information about how moms like myself are using technology to stay connected with friends and family.
What is your favorite way to use Skype? Have you learned anything new about Skype’s innovative features?
For more information, you can visit Skype’s website. You can also connect with friends on Facebook via the Skype app.
I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Skype. I received Skype credits to facilitate my review and a promotional item to thank me for participating.
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