Skype is a little piece of software that lets you make free calls to anyone else on Skype, anywhere in the world.
And even though the calls are free, they are really excellent quality. If you and your friends, family or business contacts are using webcams, you can also make free video calls. You can even call landlines and mobile phones at really cheap rates.
Everyone who downloads Skype for the first time can make their first call for free to over 30 global countries.
Do more than just calling
Just like instant messengers, you can also use Skype to chat with not just one person at a time, but with up to 100 people in a group chat. You can even bookmark the chat and find it later, which is handy for recurrent chats with family and business contacts.
Find people to talk to
Simply find and add contacts to your contact list, where you can see if they’re online, offline, busy or away from their computer.
Importing contacts lets you find people amongst your contacts who are already on Skype. Even if they’re not using Skype yet, you can still call your Microsoft Outlook® contacts directly from Skype.
Shared Groups is handy when your contact list is full of friends and family. You can then easily organise them by creating and managing groups of contacts. With Shared Groups, all your friends or your latest project group can stay in touch and be automatically updated when a new person joins.
It just works. No worries
Skype works on most kinds of computers — Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and Pocket PCs. Calls, chats and file transfers work between all kinds of computers.
Skype automatically encrypts calls, chats and file transfers before sending it through the internet so no-one can intercept your call, text or file transfer.
Useful things that cost a little
You can talk to anyone on Skype over the internet for free, and you’ll always be able to do that. There are some other useful things you can do on Skype that aren’t free (but they’re pretty cheap, actually). Learn more about what is free, and what is not.
SkypeOut is a cheap way to call from Skype to landlines and mobile phones. You can also use SkypeOut to forward calls to your Skype to your home number or mobile phone.
SkypeIn is a number your friends can call from any phone and you pick up the call in Skype. You can get numbers in one or more of the places offered, and receive calls in Skype from anywhere in the world.
Skype Voicemail takes your calls when you’re busy or offline.
Skype SMS lets you send SMS messages to your friends’ mobile phones from Skype.