Registering Skype Account

If you don’t already have a Skype user name and account, you’ll have to set one up. This will give you access to all of Skype’s free services (remember, it’s completely up to you whether you want to subscribe to any of Skype’s fee-based services).
Start Skype by double-clicking on its icon on your desktop, or from the Windows menu (go to Start: All Programs: Skype: Skype). This presents you with the Sign In window shown in the next figure. Click on the link Don’t have a Skype Name?, which displays the window.
Fill in the details for the Create a new Skype Account window, and then click on the Sign In button. You are now signed in to the Skype network, and you should see the Skype softphone displayed on your screen.
You’ll use your Skype name and password to sign in to the Skype website to manage your account and sign up for Skype’s fee-based subscription services.

Running Skype

When you run the Skype install program, you will first be presented with an introductory window that enables you to choose your preferred language, as shown in the figure that follows. This will select the language used for both the remainder of the installation process and the default language for operation of the Skype softphone. Clicking the Next button in the Setup window takes you to a window that asks you to accept (or reject) the Skype license agreement, as shown in the next figure. Select “I accept the agreement” and click Next to proceed to the final step of the installation process. (Selecting “I do not accept the agreement” aborts the installation.)

Installing Skype in Internet Explorer

Clicking on the Run button will download the Skype install program to your PC. After it is downloaded, you’ll see the window shown in the next figure. Click the Run button in this popup to start the Skype install program. If you don’t want to install Skype, click Don’t Run to cancel the install process.
Clicking on the Save button will generate the popup window shown in the next figure. Using this window you can choose a folder in which to save the Skype install program. Be sure to remember where you put it, as you’ll need this piece of information for the next step. After the Skype install program has finished downloading, you must run it. The easiest way to do this is to navigate to the Skype install program using the Windows Explorer file browser, and then doubleclick on it. This will run the Skype install program, though you may be asked by Windows to confirm that you want to run this program.

Downloading and Installing Skype

To download Skype, visit www.skype.com in Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) and click on the Download menu item at the top of the home page. This displays the Download Skype page. Click on the link for the Windows platform, which takes you to the download page specifically for Skype for Windows. Next, click on the Get it now button, which displays a page with helpful step-by-step instructions. Click on the Download button, which will then display the popup window shown in the following figure. This popup gives you three ways to proceed:
Run, Save, or Cancel. The third option, Cancel, is fairly obvious in that it cancels the download process. Run and Save can both be used to run the Skype setup program, but they do so in different ways, which I explain in the following sections.
Before downloading and installing the Skype softphone, you might want to familiarize yourself with the user interface—the look and feel of the Skype softphone. That way, when you run Skype, you will already know how to do some basic things with it. Check out the screenshots of the Skype softphone at www.skype.com/download/screenshots.html. Also, look at the online user guides for Skype at www.skype.com/help/guides.

Internet Requirement for Skype Connection

Skype can work with a fast dial-up Internet connection over a telephone line in a pinch, but don’t expect much in the way of quality. For practical day-to-day use, you have to have a broadband connection to the Internet, such as that provided through cable or DSL. To get the most out of Skype, there are two characteristics of your broadband Internet connection that you must pay attention to:

• Bandwidth, measured in bits per second, is a measure of the rate at which data can be transmitted over the connection. The higher the bandwidth, the better your Skype experience will be, as your voice will be clearer during a call.
• Latency, measured in milliseconds, is the delay between when

you start speaking during a call and when the person at the other end hears your words. If this delay is too long, say, more than half a second, the other person might start talking back to you before you are done talking. A long latency means that conversations will be stuttering and awkward, as each person runs the risk of talking over the other. The shorter your latency, the better will be your Skype experience.
Most cable and DSL Internet connections are asymmetric in the sense that the rate at which you can send data is different from the rate at which you can receive data. That is, the bandwidth in each direction is asymmetric. Normally the rate at which you can send data is substantially less than the rate at which you can receive data. From Skype’s point of view, the overall quality of a voice call over the Internet will be limited by the minimum of the two bandwidths in either direction: send or receive.
To find out the bandwidth and latency for your Internet connection visit www.numion.com and click on the YourSpeed link, then click on the Quickstart link. This will run a test that will tell you your bandwidth for both send and receive, and tell you the latency for your Internet connection. For a good experience with Skype, you will need a bandwidth of at least 128 Kbps for both send and receive, and a latency less than 500 milliseconds (that is, a latency less than half a second).

Skype Alternatives

Skype isn’t the only Internet-telephony game in town! Even though this book is primarily about Skype, you should also know that there are other Internet-telephony providers that are even cheaper than Skype for some types of call. For example, VoIP Buster offers free calls to regular landline phone numbers in the following countries: Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Monaco, Mongolia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, and Venezuela. In addition, you can even get a free regular dial-in phone number for select countries. Check the VoIP Buster website, www.voipbuster.com, for details and restrictions.
You might also want to check out some of the other alternatives to Skype shown in the following table. This list is by no means exhaustive, but it’s a starting point for you to shop around for the best deal—and best features—in Internet telephony.

Skype’s fee-based features

Briefly, Skype’s fee-based features include the following:

1. SkypeOut: Using SkypeOut, Skype users can call fixed and mobile phones at very low rates—in some cases, as low as 2¢ per minute.
2. SkypeIn: SkypeIn provides a dial-in number that enables regular and mobile phone users to call Skype users. A SkypeIn number—and you can have as many as you want—costs $35 per year, or $12 for 3 months.
3. Voicemail: Skype Voicemail ($6 for 3 months or $18 for a year) is for those times for when you are away from your PC or busy on another call and don’t want to miss any incoming calls. As an added bonus, as a Skype Voicemail subscriber, you can send voicemail messages to other Skype users, even if they aren’t voicemail subscribers themselves!
4. Skype Zones: If you want to use Skype while on the move, this might be for you. Skype Zones gives you access to more than 18,000 wireless Internet access points around the world from which you can make and receive Skype calls. In fact, you can use all the usual features of Skype, including any Skype services (SkypeOut, SkypeIn and Skype Voicemail) to which you have subscribed.
5. Skype Control Panel: Skype Control Panel is targeted at business users of Skype who want to have a central administrator for several accounts, to simplify payment and management of Skype services. This service might also appeal to individuals who maintain several Skype accounts. The Skype Control Panel and other business-oriented features of Skype are not covered in this book, but additional details can be found online at www.skype.biz.
6. Personalise Skype: Using this service you can buy personalized pictures to add some pizzazz to how others see you online and buy custom ringtones that make Skype more pleasant and fun to use.