{"id":71843,"date":"2013-06-19T17:39:47","date_gmt":"2013-06-19T17:39:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.voipsupply.com\/blog\/voip-insider\/?p=71843"},"modified":"2016-07-12T12:04:34","modified_gmt":"2016-07-12T16:04:34","slug":"is-skype-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.voipsupply.com\/blog\/voip-insider\/is-skype-free\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Skype Free?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Is Skype free?<\/p>\n<p>It sure is. \u00a0But, is it worth it?<\/p>\n<h2>Businesses Can&#8217;t Rely on Skype, Google Hangouts<\/h2>\n<p>If you&#8217;re a remote employee, doing some freelance work, or you&#8217;re just calling your mom then Skype or Google Hangouts will work great. These are wonderful free video conferencing services that are easily accessible to everyone.<\/p>\n<p>Well, just about everyone. <a href=\"\/blog\/voip-insider\/pay-phone-makes-comeback-in-saudi-arabia-skype-viber-banned\/\">Some countries are banning Skype<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s an example of where the problems begin, for <strong>businesses<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2>Quality and Reliability<\/h2>\n<p>Quality and reliability aren&#8217;t really concerns for one-on-one video chats. But as the number of people, sites, and the importance of the video call increases, the horsepower and available options (we&#8217;re talking about cars, right?) of your video conferencing system needs to be increased as well.<\/p>\n<p>For example, medical researchers collaborating from around the globe will want to share large amounts of data in real-time, the R&amp;D team unveiling a prototype in another state will need HD cameras with pan-tilt-zoom options, and the executives making a business deal don&#8217;t want to have to hang up and call back for a better connection.<\/p>\n<p>Consider too the security risks of video conferencing on public networks. You&#8217;ll have stronger encryption with a private, business-grade system.<\/p>\n<p>For more real-world applications read Angus Kidman&#8217;s article on Lifehacker, <a title=\"Why Business Video Conferencing Needs More Than Skype Or FaceTime\" href=\"http:\/\/www.lifehacker.com.au\/2013\/03\/why-business-video-conferencing-needs-more-than-skype-or-facetime\/\" target=\"_blank\">Why Business Video Conferencing Needs More Than Skype or FaceTime<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>I Still Like Free<\/h2>\n<p>If you&#8217;re still not convinced that your company needs a fancy (read: &#8220;expensive&#8221;) video conferencing system, that&#8217;s great. But there&#8217;s no reason you can&#8217;t make your desktop video conferencing experience a lot better with a few simple add-ons like a USB speakerphone, an HD camera, or even a <a title=\"Skype Headsets\" href=\"\/skype\/skype-free-edition\/headsets\">Skype headset<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Check these out:<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 110px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a class=\"post-thumbnail\" href=\"\/clearone-chat-60\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" \" src=\"\/media\/catalog\/product\/0\/2\/02-108697_5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">ClearOne CHAT 60<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"\/clearone-chat-60\">Plug-and-play, no drivers to download, and hands-free operation<\/a> describe the crystal clear <a href=\"\/clearone-chat-60\">ClearOne\u00a0CHAT 60\u00a0Skype Certified USB Conference Phone<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 110px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a class=\"post-thumbnail\" style=\"text-align: center;\" href=\"\/logitech-c920\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" \" src=\"\/media\/catalog\/product\/l\/o\/logitech_c920.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Logitech C920<\/p><\/div>\n<p>We like the <strong>Logitech C920<\/strong> for the<a href=\"\/logitech-c920\"> simple way it clips on to monitors and laptops and for its fantastic full HD 1080p video<\/a>. It comes with the latest version of Skype for Windows, automatic zoom and digital PTZ, low-light correction, and records video and takes pictures.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 110px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a class=\"post-thumbnail\" href=\"\/jabra-speak-410\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/media\/catalog\/product\/j\/a\/jabra_410.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jabra SPEAK 410<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The Jabra SPEAK 410 is a <a href=\"\/jabra-speak-410\">portable USB conference phone designed for office pros<\/a>. With excellent sound (we use these all the time in the office or working from home), convenient carrying case, and wraparound cord it&#8217;s easy to take it wherever you go.<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 110px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a class=\"post-thumbnail\" href=\"\/logitech-bcc950\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" \" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/logitech_bcc950_thumb.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100\" height=\"125\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Logitech BCC950<\/p><\/div>\n<p>One of our favorites (not because it looks like E.T.), the <strong>Logitech BCC950<\/strong> \u00a0helps small groups meet anywhere when the conference room is booked. \u00a0With a <a href=\"\/logitech-bcc950\">noise cancelling 8-foot range microphone and the motorized pan, tilt, zoom camera, your group can hold meetings in the kitchen<\/a> while scavenging for snacks.<\/p>\n<h2>I Still Need More Information<\/h2>\n<p>There are a lot of choices out there. This video conferencing buyers guide can help you learn more about the technology and your options:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a class=\"post-thumbnail\" href=\"\/new-to-voip\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"\/media\/images\/logos\/BG_Video_Conferencing_1b.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"192\" height=\"188\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>And if you&#8217;d like to talk to somebody, contact one of these <a title=\"video conferencing experts\" href=\"\/voip-experts\">video conferencing experts<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Via <a title=\"Lifehacker\" href=\"http:\/\/www.lifehacker.com.au\/2013\/03\/why-business-video-conferencing-needs-more-than-skype-or-facetime\/\" target=\"_blank\">Lifehacker\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Is Skype free? It sure is. \u00a0But, is it worth it? Businesses Can&#8217;t Rely on Skype, Google Hangouts If you&#8217;re a remote employee, doing some freelance work, or you&#8217;re just calling your mom then Skype or Google Hangouts will work great. These are wonderful free video conferencing services that are easily accessible to everyone. Well, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1049],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-video-conferencing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.voipsupply.com\/blog\/voip-insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.voipsupply.com\/blog\/voip-insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.voipsupply.com\/blog\/voip-insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.voipsupply.com\/blog\/voip-insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.voipsupply.com\/blog\/voip-insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71843"}],"version-history":[{"count":39,"href":"https:\/\/www.voipsupply.com\/blog\/voip-insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":198853,"href":"https:\/\/www.voipsupply.com\/blog\/voip-insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71843\/revisions\/198853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.voipsupply.com\/blog\/voip-insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.voipsupply.com\/blog\/voip-insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.voipsupply.com\/blog\/voip-insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}