technology Skype: is it really that great?

[Frith is Magick 1,471]

After consulting Google, I was disappointed to find that this topic did not yet exist. It does now.

 

I have heard two very different opinions on Skype. Some people act like it's he greatest thing since sliced bread, others seem to disagree. Many people have accounts and find the site useful, yet it has been said to have problems, such as questionable security, high bandwidth usage, and secretive owners. Another major problem is that they have a server in the united states, which falls under the Patriot Act.

 

What do you all think about Skype? Is it useful, reliable, secure? This thread is dedicated to general reviews and opinions regarding Skype, so let us hear what the users have to say.

[Moonlight 7,287]

I find Skype to be useful for both text and voice chat. I usually use it when gaming with people and it has pretty good reliability, seeing as how I haven't been dropped from a call yet. The only real problem I have with it is the fact that some messages I won't get till hours later after they were sent. 

[Gone Airbourne 21,977]

Sure it is really useful for many reasons. If you want to contact family, friends and many other aspects you can benefit from using skype. However I only use it on occasions to talk to people on here. To some it may serve no purpose whatsoever however to another person out there they could very much benefit from using skype.

[Cakebandit :3 1,064]

it's pretty useful for talking / messaging friends even video calling if you wish, You can also text people from skype and call peoples phones downside is since anyone on your friendlist can send you anything they could technically send you a virus however skype does warn you that the file could contain a virus. It also does apparently use a lot of memory though I really can't tell the difference.

 

 

Basically what I was trying to say in all that is I love Skype and I don't really see a reason to not like it, it does it's job pretty well imo

[Scootalove 10,689]

Skype may have it's flaws but, it is very useful when messaging people and chatting with them when your using your voice. So, it's pretty useful and efficient.

[Troblems 5,619]

I use skype. I find it convenient. (I spelled that right for the first time ever! Woo!) The biggest thing for me though is that it's not owned by Google.

 

If you're on a poor connection, the call service, particularly video can be quite labor intensive on said poor connection. Luckily, I no longer am. However, the same thing can be said of Netflix, and many other service.

[hawkflame 3,310]

I mainly use it for family and school.  We have a lot of group projects here, and since it's a commuter school, not everyone is on campus at the same time.  Skype makes connecting with each other so much easier.

[DaReaper 1,945]

I jave skype and use it, it works great as a im and light chat tool but sometimes tends to lag up horriblyesspecialy on mobile version

[Frith is Magick 1,471]

I'm liking what I'm hearing so far. What about security? I am slightly paranoid, so that is a huge issue in my opinion. Is it secure or questionable?

[Oblivion 20,268]

Yea skype is pretty cool IMO, if it wasn't for Skype I probably wouldn't have ever met a lot of awesome people, Heck I probably would have never met CakeBandit!

[CMQuickfireTK 751]

I'm liking what I'm hearing so far. What about security? I am slightly paranoid, so that is a huge issue in my opinion. Is it secure or questionable?

Questionable.

 

although skype is nice... I don't intend on using it anymore... I use steam for all my communications.

[The Leafeon Pinkeh 3,603]

Its pretty secure, I havent had any security issues from it yet. But the people I add are friends. There was this one time that the skype call set up by sir flutter hooves went downhill and got better for awhile and much more vacant and then was completely destroyed when some person invited someone mean who invited like 30 weird rude people and I left.

 

But yeah that wasnt a security threat, just sometjing bad.

 

I like skype though and the first of it I saw was my friends family talking to a lady in China on it! I was suprised how someone on the other side of the world could talk in real time with us o:

[Chacobos 160]

I hate lying to myself so I will say this...Skype is a terrible program if you are a gamer. Even alone Skype is a internet connection hog, grant you won't have problems if you got a good connection but point is that Skype loooooves to hog up a lot on lower end connections. Every other aspect about Skype is fine but do be aware of what you download from others. 

Edited December 11, 2013 by Captain Variance

[Rinkitty 589]

It's good for keeping in touch with friends. Not many downsides to it, really.

 

The only thing I can think of is that it's not supported on my freakin' Chromebook...

[Zygen 6,066]

No idea for sure on the security, but i can say i haven't had any issues to my knowledge, just be careful and not add random people and it'll probably be ok.

 

As far as overall skype is a nice program, its convenient for chatting through text (Although mostly voice i find as there are better stuff for text chat, especially during gaming.)

 

So its nice to keep up with others and chat with multiple or single people.

 

Its also something most people have, which makes it convenient in that respect, since you can ask almost anyone for their skype and chances are they have one now a days, except for some people.

 

Even then it doesn't take much time at all to setup an account and download it.

 

It does take up a good bit of your bandwith, so if you have bad internet it may give troubles, and your computer may not be able to take it if you have a really low quality one as it can take up a good chunk of ram.

 

But overall its not that bad, my computer is pretty bleh, my internet is good though overall, and i don't have many issues.

 

Overall its a pretty solid program, so i'd say its worth it, its not the most amazing thing ever, but its better then the majority of other programs in most cases.

[Techite Sparkle 354]

There is some downfalls and flaws. But perfect for video and voice chatting with my friends while playing multiplayer Terraria ^-^

[caramba2654 602]

I know of a few better ones.

 

Teamspeak 3.

Raid Call.

Google +.

 

Yes. Google+ is better than Skype.

[CMQuickfireTK 751]

It's good for keeping in touch with friends. Not many downsides to it, really.

 

The only thing I can think of is that it's not supported on my freakin' Chromebook...

What are you doing with ChromeOS? You could easily install a linux distro on there and use skype.

[FlutterFerret 39]

I only use it to contact my cousin.

[Rinkitty 589]

What are you doing with ChromeOS? You could easily install a linux distro on there and use skype.

Ummmm, you can do that?? I know nothing of technology ' ~ '

[CMQuickfireTK 751]

Ummmm, you can do that?? I know nothing of technology ' ~ '

indeed.

 

first lesson: " ~ " is the shortcut to your home directory

 

though, OP... Skype is probably fine for the most part... though... it is a resource hog.

Edited December 11, 2013 by z77

[Surface 115]

I use Skype to talk to people. I like it because it's almond in the background. I don't use it a lot though, because it isn't for Wii U.

[Rinkitty 589]

indeed.

 

first lesson: " ~ " is the shortcut to your home directory

 

though, OP... Skype is probably fine for the most part... though... it is a resource hog.

...You're not taking advantage of a ignorant lass, are you?

[CMQuickfireTK 751]

...You're not taking advantage of a ignorant lass, are you?

ofc not! let me tell you though, it'd be a fairly difficult task, but if you love challenges and learning new things, it might just be fun!

[Geek0zoid 1,468]

Well, I looked into this other program that I think is called "Oovloo?"

It's like Skype, but has other options like watching YouTube videos in a chat.

I haven't downloaded the program because I just can't be bothered.