Skype Installation and Review
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Skype Installation and Review
Poker is truly an international sport. People from the four corners of the Earth compete every single day in casinos and online. If you’re a particularly social person at the table, you’ll probably become friendly with some of your competitors. However, if you ever wanted to call them and discuss poker strategy, it won’t be cheap, especially if you’re charged international calling rates from your home country. With Skype, you can make free calls to any other Skype user anywhere in the world anytime during the day. I use it to talk with business clients from across the globe. Rather than paying 50 cents per minute plus steep connection fees, you can make Skype to Skype calls absolutely free. The best part is that Skype has a Mac download available. We’ll walk you through the basics.
Downloading Skype on your Mac
First, go to www.skype.com, the landing page for one of the best call and chat programs available. Locate the “Download Now” link on the site and you’ll be taken to a Mac-specific download on the site, which will start the process. The entire file is about 34 MB and should take about two to three minutes to finish depending on your internet connection.
Next, a colorful image will pop up asking you to drag the Skype icon into the Applications folder, which you can do on the image itself. Skype will then install itself on your computer, which should take around five seconds. Check out what your screen should look like:
You’re almost there! Go into the Applications folder and double click on the Skype icon, which will launch the program. You’re first asked to accept a user license agreement, which is dreadful to read, but pretty straight-forward. Here’s a preview for you:
Creating an Account on Skype
Let’s get on Skype! First, create an account if you don’t already have one. Looking now, there are 7.4 million users on Skype, which is an extraordinary number for this relatively new program. Skype will ask you for a user name, password, and e-mail address. You don’t even have to confirm your account through e-mail; it’s only used in case you happen to forget your password and need it re-sent.
Here’s a glance at the log in screen:
Adding a Contact
Adding a contact on Skype is easy. Go to “Contacts” and “Add a Contact.” If you know the contact name of the person you’re trying to add, type it in the box and click search. Any person who matches the contact name you entered will be returned, so just make sure you select the correct one to add. Skype will send them a message saying you want to add them as a friend. As soon as they confirm, you can start chatting! You can also add regular phone numbers to call on Skype, but be forewarned, any call that’s not to another Skype user costs money:
When you first launch Skype, you’ll have a “test call” and Apple support loaded in as contacts. Unless you have a microphone in your Mac, you’ll need a headset in order to use Skype properly. Logitech makes several and they’re very reasonable in price. Check out their website or go to an electronics store to buy one.
Next to each contact, you’ll find a green “call” button and a blue “chat” button. Skype also comes equipped with more conventional written chat capabilities and even logs them for you. From my perspective, it’s helpful for remembering what a business contact and I were talking about when we last spoke. Click on the green “call” button to dial Skype Test Call and test out your sound.
Skype Preferences
If you click on “Skype” on the top menu and “Preferences,” you’ll see all the various preferences you can select as a Skype user. You can control who can call you, who can’t call you, and the different sound options within the program. If you have a headset, make sure to go into the “Audio” options and change the “Audio input” setting, else your brand new piece of hardware won’t be very useful.
Chatting on Skype, whether using the Instant Messenger program or call feature, is simple. You have complete control of how the chat looks in the Preferences menu. I find that the default blue and gray colors work well. If you dare to be different, change the colors to your heart’s content.
Premium Options
Not everything on Skype is free. The premium options are pretty affordable, however. You can either buy a premium service called Skype Pro for a few bucks a month or buy pay as you go credits. Extra charges include text messaging capabilities, an online number so your friends without Skype can call you on your Skype account, and voicemail. Don’t forget that you’ll have to pay for any call that’s not to a Skype user.
Skype Resources
The basic Skype is free. Research other options: Skype Pricing Information
Check out Skype Features
See what others are saying in the Skype Discussion Forums
Alternatives to Skype can be found in the Skype Journal