With the rise and proliferation of the internet and all its various applicationsone of the primary resources that this tool provides us is the ability to communicate with friends and family regardless of location in the world.
From this initiative, several have been releasedboth for PC and mobile, one of the most outstanding in this regard is Skypesince since its creation and publication it has more than 1000 million downloads, only on android devices.
In this text we will review everything you need to know to perform adequately in this prominent tool of communication and get all the benefits you need.
What is Skype and what is this instant communication tool for?
skype It is a communication tool a software that enables instant communication in video chat or text messages between two or more people regardless of the distance between each of them. There are many uses that can be given to this tool and derive both in personal and work use.
It is a useful tool both for the son who lives abroad and wants to communicate with his parentsas well as for members of a team of entrepreneurs who want and need to maintain instant lines of communication between them.
Features and Functions of Skype What can we do with Microsoft’s communications tool?
Being one of the most downloaded and used applications of as well as one of its flagship brands at this point, Skype has a wide range of features that allow it to perform its role with virtually unrivaled dexterity..
Those features will be listed below:
- Audio calls and HD video calls: Skype allows you to enjoy one of the best experiences in audio calls and video chats thanks to its crystal clear and high definition audio.
- Smart Messaging: Skype’s Instant Messaging (IM) section includes features that have nothing to envy to other services that are dedicated exclusively to IM, since it also allows the use of emojis to improve the user experience.
- Screen Sharing: allows you to show your desktop screen or a specific window to the person or persons with whom you are making a call; especially useful feature during a remote presentation of projects for your company or something as simple as showing your vacation photos to your family.
- call recording: This feature is especially useful when it comes to having recorded evidence of any conversation, both to keep a memory of the person you are talking to and to use the recording as a reminder of some activity or task.
- phone calls: Skype also has an affordable rate for international calls to mobile phones, so you can communicate with your friends who are not online.
- private conversations– In the name of security and privacy, Skype’s personal calling service offers end-to-end encryption on your calls so your personal conversations stay confidential.
History of Skype When was it created and how did it come into the hands of Microsoft?
Skype, it was designed in Estonia in 2003 by the Dane Janus Friis and the Swede Niklas Zennstrom. It was intended as closed source software, but interested users could download the program from its official page and use it for free.
In 2005 was bought by eBay for 2.2 billion dollarsbut in 2009 the former Skype development team sued eBay when the licenses, provided by a subsidiary owned by the former owners, expired and unable to renew them, eBay was forced to sell 70% stake in Skype to Silver Lake Partners groupthat if he had the required licenses.
In 2011 Microsoft announced the complete purchase of Skype for 8.5 billion dollars and in June of this year it announced the withdrawal of Windows Live Messenger, which was replaced by Skype. As of 2013, Windows Live Messenger credentials were still valid for although they only allowed you to use the text messaging section, and this only lasted until 2014, when it was terminated and your credentials were no longer valid, establishing Skype as its official messaging application.
Learn the most basic aspects of Skype so that you can use it for the first time like an expert
Below we explain in detail The most important things to keep in mind about Skype to be able to get the most out of it from the first time you use it.
Go for it:
What is the required internet speed?
depending on the bandwidth of the place where you live or work you could find more or less problems when using Skypeand is that as with any online service, requires a minimum of bandwidth to provide optimal service.
Below we show you the optimal values for each functionality:
- voice calls: 100kbps/100kbps.
- Video calls: 300kbps/300kbps.
- HD Video Calls: 1.5Mbps/1.5Mbps.
- Group video calls (7 people): 8Mbps/512kbps.
Complete your Skype profile
- For set up your skype profile and start enjoying its benefits, you just have to enter the official Skype page, click on the button “Log in” in the upper right corner and press “Check in”.
- The registration can be done both with a telephone number and with an email address, once entered you must choose a passwordand then the system will ask for your first and last name, or as you like to identify yourself in your Skype profile. Subsequently, a token will be sent to your phone number or email to validate it, after which the system will apply a captcha to rule out the intervention of a bot.
- After that you will only have to enter a profile picture and you are ready to contact your friends. This process can be done both on the official website and on PC or mobile phone applications.
Find users on Skype
- Skype has an interesting search function so you can find friends or contacts to talk to on the platform. You can easily do this in the search bar of the app or web versionwhere you must enter the user, email or mobile number of the person you want to contact.
- You should also check among your contacts since these, as happens with WhatsApp, are perfectly synchronized with your calendar to find registered users among your acquaintances.
Add contacts in Skype
To add contacts to the Skype book, all you have to do is open the dial pad and call the number you want to add, at the end of the call, right click on the number in the chat bar and select the option “View profile”, then click “Add contact”. Once added you have the option to edit their name to search for it in alphabetical order in your contact book.
Make your first video call
- When you have logged in with your phone number or email, Skype will sync the contacts you have scheduled in this account to add them as contacts in your notebook, allowing you to make calls, video chats and send them messages.
- Once you know which contact you are going to call, you just have to select it in your notebook and select the video call button that appears in the upper right corner of the screen. Once the call ends, you simply click on the red button to end the call.
Skype vs Zoom vs Google Meet vs Facebook Messenger What is the best tool to make video calls?
The field of instantaneous communication has grown so much in the last decade that there are more than one company trying to take advantage of this incessant demand for communicationand among all these applications that provide video call service, we can highlight three that encompass the thickness of the categoryand these are Skype, and .
the three applications offer a similar section of tools and benefits when making video calls and offer your communication service, and these lay the foundation for the minimum expectations of competition in video call applications, no application that offers less is competitive.
The sections to take into account when selecting a superior will be:
- Allows screen sharing: both Skype and Google Meet and Zoom allow screen sharing, in addition to supporting a wide range of formats.
- Support subtitles for foreign language: Zoom falls into a disadvantage by not allowing the activation of foreign language subtitles. Both Skype and Meets support this service and it is worth mentioning that the most intuitive of the three is the Meets translation system.
- Video Call Recording: As it is a basic section in video call applications, both Meets and Skype and Zoom have the function of recording video calls.
- Security: Roughly speaking, it can be said that the application par excellence when it comes to user data security is Meets, since the URLs that allow you to enter the meeting rooms are randomly generated, unlike Zoom, where a lost URL can breach the security of a conference. In addition, it has been verified that both Zoom and Meets do not guarantee the safe deletion of user data.
- Inventiveness: Due to the current situation, the needs of users have changed, and Google Meets has been able to stand out above the competition due to its ability to adapt to changes in the requirements of users such as teachers and students, in addition to the possibility of carrying out polls among other pretty nifty features.
- Integration: In this section, Zoom and Google Meets have the advantage, due to the ease of accessing meetings through a link, in addition to its compatibility with other time management applications that allow for greater organization of events and meetings. .
List of the best alternatives to Skype to make free video calls over the Internet that you should know
The demand for communication, as already mentioned, is endless, so it is logical to think that there is a flood of applications that will allow you to be in touch with your loved ones, or to keep up to date with the coordination of your projects. Skype is by no means the only app that does this, and it may not be the one that best suits your needs.
So here we present 4 alternatives to Skype that can meet your communication needs in a more intuitive way:
discord
It is considered a more than worthy replacement for Skype despite the fact that it does not include group video chats in its feature, This is thanks to the fact that it only supports voice calls and instant messaging with a large group of members., in addition to keeping the IPs of the conversations secure, which is a great plus to the application. It is worth mentioning that it is available for both PC and Android and IOS devices.
Facebook Comments
Disqus