Alison: Calling with Skype

International calls and texts can rack up your phone bill abruptly when phone companies start charging $1.99 per minute and $0.50 per outgoing text. With rates like that, contact with a friend or family member out of the country will surely dwindle or be costly.

Skype provides users with free video-to-video calling no matter where you are. It doesn’t matter where in the world you are, your Skype calls are free if you are using the free video feature. However, if you want to call a landline or a mobile device, expect to pay a fee.

"In 2010, a report by TeleGeography Research stated that Skype-to-Skype calls accounted for 13% of all international call minutes in 2009; out of the 406 billion international call minutes a total of 54 billion were used by Skype calls".

The benefits are not only reaped by those who want to keep contact with friends and/or family. Small businesses as well as larger corporations use the video feature with clients across the country and even internationally. This saves costs and at the same time it helps build relationships between clients by having the opportunity to see facial expressions from face-to-face talk time, and allows meeting times to be flexible.