Using your existing web connection as a replacement phone service is no new thing: established IM applications such as Windows Messenger and AIM have long provided the function although they tend to rely on those you want to chat to being online and logged in. You then face audio quality and lag issues that have done little to encourage regular users to replace the handset with the headset. But Skype has a number of benefits: sound quality is of a near-broadcast quality and calls are free to other users, but most tempting of all is the ability to call non-Skype users through their existing landlines.

Internet telephony has come on leaps and bounds since the earliest methods which required a degree in computer science to understand the under-the-bonnet tinkering of IP addresses and network protocols. And with broadband becoming more and more accessible, VoIP now also enjoys a dramatic improvement in terms of the quality and response of the sent signal, as well as being much more reliable with less lag and fewer dropouts, resulting in the kind of audio quality you’d expect to hear from an FM radio transmission as opposed to the low frequency muffles we endure through our regular landlines.

In keeping with similar systems, Skype is a freely downloadable application (available from here), and allows free voice and IM communication as well as an effective P2P delivery method between other Skype users. But unlike the competition, the method isn’t restricted to a particular platform: Windows, Macintosh, Linux and Pocket PC flavours are all available. You’re not restricted to other Skype converts either. You can use the software to dial up your technophobe buddies on their regular phones and gloat over their confusion as they attempt to comprehend that you’re talking to them through your PC.

Of course, calls outside the Skype network will cost you, but such charges soon pale to insignificance when compared with your regular phone company. External calls, or SkypeOut, is generally charged at just over a penny a minute to the most popular destinations around the world: the majority of Europe, all of North America and Australia and selected countries in South America are all included. So although an hour-long call to your neighbour will be a little over 60 pence, you’ll find the same rate applies to any ex-pat relatives now living in the US or Australia. And if you can manage to convince them to get Skype up and running themselves, you’ll find your costs drop to zero – so you can keep in touch without having to fear the phone bill.

Getting started with Skype
Another advantage Skype enjoys over its competitors is its ease of use. Installation is only a challenge to those still working out which way up to hold the mouse, and leads naturally into the simple steps required for setting up your new user account. Once that’s been completed, the default options mean your less tech-savvy relatives need never visit the software’s preference settings; as long as a headset is attached, you’re ready to start chatting.

Another feature that makes the software instantly accessible is it ability to scan your Outlook contacts for comparison with a centralised database. You may need to spend a little time initially filtering the results as you whittle away any number of similarly named users, but if a user’s profile (which is created when setting up an account) is reasonably accurate, then you should be able to ascertain which of the many John Smiths returned matches that in your address book.

As with any web-based application that needs to send and receive data via your service provider, you may need to make some modification to any firewall or NAT device you have running, but any such application worth its salt should make it relatively easy to create the necessary exceptions to permit the successful flow of such traffic.

Once the installation is complete and your account created, you’ll find Skype lurks in the background. Having started up with your system, it makes itself constantly available in the notification area of your taskbar, waiting for you to access it to make calls or to answer incoming calls that make themselves evident both visually through a pop-up window and audibly using a traditional telephone ringing sound through your speakers.

The interface explained
The Skype interface is equally easy to use and understand. A series of tabs are available across the head of the software and provide access to an overview of your current service through the Start tab, which summarises the number of contacts currently online, your account status and whether you have any missed calls or messages waiting.

The more detailed Contacts tabs lists your individual contacts and their current status using familiar concepts to indicate whether a particular user is online, away from their PC, or doesn’t want to be disturbed. And with SkypeOut credits purchased, it’s possible to add contacts so you can easily dial on regular landlines without having to root around your address book to manually enter their numbers. The Dial tab provides a graphical telephone keypad for entering new numbers when dialling non-Skype users, although you’ll need to remember to include the international dialing codes each time, even when dialing someone in your own country. Of course, you can also enter numbers directly using your keyboards numerical keypad, although the dial tab provides a more reliable method of entering tone-based options when you are dialing automated switchboards.

When making external calls, you’ll also create a temporary additional tab, which provides a visual summary of your call listing details of who you’re calling and the duration of the call; all of which is transferred to the Call List tab on completion. This provides a summary of calls sent, received or missed, and any voicemails you may have waiting, which are subsequently available for playback just as if you had used a regular answer machine.

Moving on
The success of most VoIP-based applications relies heavily on how potential users take to a particular method and whether the installed software is in use and the user logged on. But with Skype, and more importantly the SkypeOut feature, this becomes less of an issue as your contact to the outside world is restricted only to whether you have access to an individual’s regular phone number. In contrast to the likes of Windows Messenger and AIM, the superiority of the audio quality and the immediacy of the signal response makes the method a much more immediate and direct method of communication.

Using a hands-free headset raises additional obvious benefits over the traditional handset, but for the traditionalist it is also possible to purchase a more familiar handset such as the Cyberphone K ( here) which connects to a spare USB port and operates just as you might a normal telephone. There are even cordless DECT-like phones available from Olympia that can be connected to your system and allow you to leave the confines of your desktop so you can banter in the bath if that takes your fancy.

We’ve only touched on the most fundamental features Skype allows, but be sure to check out our final part next month as we expand the potential of the software and illustrate methods of using the software in a more commercial business setting. Skype can be effectively used to reduce your regular domestic phone bills as well as provide methods that allow overseas contacts (who are yet to discover the benefits of the software) to contact you without paying excessive costs for international calls.

Next we’ll look into various methods of establishing a regular telephone number that provides a way for your contacts to use a regular landline to seamlessly and inconspicuously contact you through your computer. Once you get the software installed, you’ll soon see the potential that’s available.