SKYPE

[jeff oakley]

Good Morning All,

Unfortunately I lost my Mother 8 months ago and now my Dad at the beginning of the March. With my brother living in France I have made a lot of expensive calls so far to him and with a Sister who was asking about the will as we drove to the Crem behind Dads body, I suspect I shall have a lot more as the details unfold.

I was therefore looking at setting skype up so we can converse without BT calling me to say there is suspicious activity on my phone. £150 for one call for example which they called about.

So the question is I need a camera and microphone and ideally not a head set other wise my wife cannot butt in when I have a slight detail wrong, so what do I need?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[darve]

Not an expert by any stretch Jeff but if you have a laptop a lot have these functions built in so you may avoid having to buy something

[Paul Hurdsfield - Joint Manchester AO]

Whatsapp is the way to go, our youngest son lives in Thailand, the wife speaks to him most days, the cost? nothing, we have it on our smart phones and you can use either your home wifi of your data allowance on your phone package, using your data allowance you can be on the bus or in the car and talking to anywhere in the world for free, it's great.

edit to add, sorry for your loss.

[jeff oakley]

The problem is my Brother has no smart phones at all and his kids do not live all at home who may have one. It might be easier to get him one and send it over.

jeff

[Paul Hurdsfield - Joint Manchester AO]

Does he have a PC or Laptop?

[jeff oakley]

He has a PC, but no lap top but I am told they have skype on it already.

[Captain Colonial]

You just need a basic webcam and the free Skype software at both ends, easy peasey stuff.  It does depend on what speed broadband connection you have at both ends as well, but if it's slow at either end, you can just do an audio call rather than a video call as it takes far less bandwidth.  Free computer to computer calls, can't be bad.  I used it to keep in touch with my father on a daily basis when he was widowed and alone for his last few years, a real godsend.

[Captain Colonial]

3 hours ago, jeff oakley said:

and with a Sister who was asking about the will as we drove to the Crem behind Dads body,

Forgot to add, my condolences for your loss, and my sympathies for having a sister like that. I have two sisters and two brothers like that as well, but that's some brass cheek right there timing wise to start asking about his will at that moment.

[Paul Hurdsfield - Joint Manchester AO]

Your other idea might work best, get a cheap smart phone on a sim only deal, if he is only going to use it at home you may not even need a sim, just use the home wifi, assuming he has broadband at home. I'm sure someone on here has far more knowledge than me on this subject.

Another thing i'm pretty sure loads of folks have got their old phones lying about in a drawer that they keep as a spare when they have upgraded.

[Paul Hurdsfield - Joint Manchester AO]

Yeah Scotts right (again)  don't bother with video just voip

[Captain Colonial]

Slasher's idea is also a good one

Actually, no video is better many times.  When you have video, there's no hiding place and you have to be on your best behaviour as the other party can see you and everything you do, every facial expression you make, every raised eyebrow, every roll of the eyes.  With audio only, you can sound polite and friendly with your voice and words, while looking like a homeless person and giving the other side the V sign or the hand shuffle mime.

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

1 hour ago, Scott Young - WSCC Chairman said:

Slasher's idea is also a good one

Actually, no video is better many times.  When you have video, there's no hiding place and you have to be on your best behaviour as the other party can see you and everything you do, every facial expression you make, every raised eyebrow, every roll of the eyes.  With audio only, you can sound polite and friendly with your voice and words, while looking like a homeless person and giving the other side the V sign or the hand shuffle mime.

As this is what I always look like when on the phone, I don't do video calling ever.

And if I accidentally answer a video chat, I make a point of keeping the phone clamped to my ear! 

[Rhett Turner - Black Country AO]

We use Skype a lot for work now and never use the video features, it's either shared desktop or just voice. 

[CraigHew]

where there's a will there's a lot of relations (as my mum in law used to say).

I skype my brother regularly in Milan, basic Web cam attached to PC. I think it's a logitec, nothing else needed. 

video calls very good quality but noticeably slower once the USA wake up each lunchtime. 

[Ian Podmore]

Another option is for you to put Vyke on your smartphone, then you can call any landline in the World for just 1p per minute using VOIP from your mobile.  That way your relatives don't need to have their computer on to take a call.

Otherwise as others have said, WhatsApp if there was smartphone at the other end as well.