No one likes to spend money. It’s a fact: Anything free of cost usually causes feelings of ecstasy and enthusiasm unparalleled by anything that actually requires money. Because, in the end, if it’s bad, it’s not like you lose anything anyways. So, when a company offers really cheap prices that allow you to talk to anyone anytime, naturally you turn an eye and ear towards this too-good-to-be-true product. The invention of Skype, a communication asset, has allowed crowds of people to do just that- and the ability to talk to anyone at a low cost, and even no cost, is spreading like wild fire across the world.

The company was founded in 2003 by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis as a program that allows people on Skype to talk for free through their computers. The first of its kind, the ideas offered a source of inspiration for the later Google and Yahoo adaptations. While having been created in 28 languages, it innately extends itself to the average computer prober and encourages the development of this software. To begin using Skype, you undergo the same steps as you would when acquiring a screen name or a Facebook account: Download, choose a name, and then start making calls! Some of the basic features that are, of course, free of charge when both users have the software, include: video calling with aid from a webcam, conference calling, global phone directory, call forward, instant message, file transfer, and call logs.

The key to Skype’s success is VoIP (Voice Over IP), a technology that sends voice through wires, delivered to another computer or phone on the other end. With a VoIP card, the voice communication is broken down into smaller packets, sent through the internet and rearranged into discernible conversation on the other end (heard through one’s speakers). A drawback of this great system, however (having experienced it myself with our VoIP phone), is that during a power failure, one is unable to make any calls. Since a VoIP phone requires the internet which is accessed through a broadband connection, a power adaptor is generally used in the stead of a telephone adaptor which is usually already occupied. The theory behind why Skype is so fitting for the average caller is how it treats all users within the US and Canada as a local call, unlike your normal PSTN (public switched telephone network) which can recognize long distance phone calls due to area codes. So unless you live in an area prone to blackouts, I’d say the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.

Skype was also one of the first companies venturing into VoIM, (the newly invented term of VoIP for instant messaging). With the world shrinking more every day, the innovations begging to reform communication through all passable devices are still improving. There are no way we, as the people of a progressing technological age, would be able to stay content with constantly dialing numbers on a corded phone. With awards beckoning for more to come, Skype will continue developing its VoIM and guiding the new era of talking to those both across the pond and just across the road!

[donation]