If you have a built in camera you are good to go, if not you will need to get a web cam. It's great for staying in touch with friends and family scattered all over!

I don't have it but am on the receiving end of it from time to time. I am not impressed at all. I have a client that lives in Hong Kong, he calls me via Skype and 9 out of 10 times he loses the call or it is so distorted that I cannot make out what he is saying. Several of my other clients have tried or used it when traveling out of the country, again the service was really bad. Can't speak about it here in the states unless those that call in on the Today Show or on Kelly Live are an example, in which case it stinks.

Dumb question, but how do your know if you computer has a built-in web cam? Is it mainly laptops that come with web cams?

I have it and use it to talk (and see) my granddaughter that goes to school at Pepperdine, in Malibu, Ca. She'll walk around w/ hers and show me the scenery. Little smartie!!! LOL Its nice to be able to see her, it's probably not so nice for her to be able to see me. LOL

Yes, I have it and LOVE IT! I get to watch my new baby Grandson grow and see and hear all the new things he's doing, even though he's a thousand miles away. Yep - it's a GOOD THING! I 'talked' to him a couple of days ago and he's hollering aka 'talking' at the top of his lungs - he's a happy boy!

My daughter has it and uses it occationally to talk to our exchange student from last year and sometimes her friends here. Her old computer didn't have a webcam so I bought her one...now the old laptop (which isn't that old) that my son gave her has one built in. It works fine from what little I've seen. My other exchange students have used it frequently to talk to their families without any problems.

I have it and love talking to my kids and grandkids, but I have a friend who abuses it :o) She is a person I wouldn't talk to much on the phone, but she tries getting me on Skype all the time...two or three times a day. I've started ignoring her requests and telling her my connection isn't all that good....I have nothing to say to her two or three times a day. I keep so that I show online because I want my grandson to be able to Skpe me whenever he wants. I have a good friend who had the problem of some Skyping her also when they were people she wouldn't ordinarily talk to, etc., she disconnected hers because of it.

You need the high-speed in order to view it properly.
My step-father talks to his sister in Switzerland. When Mom died he went one step lower in his cable, to save a bit of money. He went back to high-speed (instead of Lite) because there was a delay in talking on skype, and it just wouldn't work well.

Anything I've seen on tv is horrible quality, as Lynn mentioned.

My laptop has the built-in camera. Once in a while I'll accidentally turn on the camera and scare myself!!! Yikes, I wouldn't WANT anyone to see me, so I don't use it.

I have skype, so do my sisters (one in Germany, the other in Australia), my brother (also in Germany) actually, 6 people in Germany and two in Australia, my daughter in New Mexico and several others.

Use it like a phone. If you don't want to talk, don't answer. If you don't want to be seen, don't turn your camera on.

If you never want to be seen by them, nor do you want to talk to them, remove them from your list.

Christmas I talked with an uncle and a sister in Australia, my other sister and my mom in Germany.. and all without a cost.

Can't beat that!!! Even if the connection is sucky sometimes... it is well worth it to me.

Moni

Schoolhouse, it's mostly laptops that come with webcams. Some monitors used to have them built in but I haven't followed monitors closely over the past years so whether that fad passed or not, I'm not sure.

My experience with Skype is so-so at best. Sometimes it works great, other times it cuts out, freezes and loses connection. Much depends on the internet logjam, the users connections and even what's running on the computers. I have far better results with Yahoo Instant Messenger. Less resources required and more flexibility. Skype is a backup for me.

I definitely see the draw of things like Skype or the like. I certainly wouldn't pay for it but there's times it gets used.

Below is a link to an article on alternatives.

Here is a link that might be useful: Skype alternatives

It's hard to beat free video calling. If both people have high speed connections, the picture and sound can be very clear. We talk with our grown children every week and our grandkids interact with us like we were sitting in front of them. If you only have had bad experiences with Skype, it probably has to do with the connection speed on one end or the other. I was able to Skype with my daughter last month when she was on a cruise ship in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, and I was in San Francisco.

Growing up in the Fifties, I thought Dick Tracy's wrist radio was an amusing fantasy that was unlikely to ever come about in my lifetime....

Kudzu9- I often wonder about how pioneers or Thoreau would react to some of our modern technologies! Skype is a wonderful tool for families to stay close.

Yup, I love Skype, too. I get to chat clearly with my dtr in Australia. We have never had a bad connection. It is wonderful, and free!

As a grandmother, I get to see and chat with them much more often than I get to see them, thank goodness!

It is one more wonderful thing about the internet!

I got a new computer last year for Christmas and it has the webcam in it. It's the HP Pavillion All-In-One.I Skype with the grandkids before bedtime. It is so darn cute. Our service in our area is really good and clear.

Both my computers, the Toshiba laptop and the Dell Inspiron one have built in cams. We don't use it much since my kids live close and I don't need to see anyone else when I talk to them. I spoke two hours with a dear friend the other night on the phone, but would have felt awkward had I been on Skype. But if I had little grandkids living far away, I'm sure I'd use it every day.>>>You're right about the Dick Tracy watch. When I was kid, I thought how cool was that but it was science fiction. No way would that ever happen.

So it's kind of like instant messaging. It's fun at first, but then you get so you don't answer the instant message alert because you eventually run out of conversation. I always felt awkward typing, "Well,I don't have much else to say so I'm signing off". ha. I haven't done IM in some time.

I'd like to see and speak to my sister-in-law in California sometimes. For nearby relatives, not necessary, but would be fun once in awhile.