By Dave Warner

Until 2003, the year of its founding, nobody had ever heard of Skype. Now, if you are interested in video-based calls from your computer to someone else’s, chances are you are using Skype. 

The numbers are staggering. The Luxembourg-based company says:

• Some 6.4 billion calls were made to cell and land line phones from Skype in the first half of 2010.
• At peak times, some 23 million Skype users are on-line.
• In the first half of 2010, Skype users made 88.4 billion minutes of calls from one Skype account to another.
• Of that number, some 40 percent were video calls.

People make video calls to keep in touch, both by web cam and voice, with children who are off in college, or even in foreign lands on study abroad programs. They also use it to keep in touch with grandchildren who may lives thousands of miles away.

Take Gary Bertoli, of the Metro Detroit area, whose new granddaughter lives in Hawaii. He does video calls with his Hawaii family monthly, which is the primary way he keeps in touch with the 1-year-old and her parents.

So how do you do it?

You need a few things for free calling and video. You have to have a PC, and a web cam if you want video. Many prefer the strong Internet connect that broadband brings with it. You’ll also need speakers, or earpieces, and a microphone. 

And to get the service for free, you need to have another Skype user on the other end.  If you want to call a cell phone or a landline, you have to pay a small fee to Skype, said to be much cheaper than regular telephone calls. 

The menu of things you can do on Skype include making and receiving calls, have video call sessions, conference calling and set up voicemail.
How do you get started?

Go to www.Skype.com, click on “get Skype,” and go for it.

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