January-2015-1

Back in the 1970s I
lived in the Middle East.
In those days, the only
ways to talk to those we
had left behind in the
UK was the telephone
which was very expensive, or writing letters
and waiting weeks for them to arrive. Telex
machines did exist where one could type onto a
machine in one country and it was printed out in
another, but these were generally only available
to businesses.
Today there are many options available
to us for cheap and even free telephone
communications. The first product that comes
to mind is probably Skype. It was one of the
first to be freely available. With this installed on
our computers we can talk to each other over
the internet; if we have webcams connected to
each computer we can see each other as well.
The technique was originally only for voice and
was given the name VOIP (Voice Over Internet
Protocol) although now that video is also being
sent perhaps it needs a new name.
Skype was recently bought by
Microsoft and they have been
making changes to it. The most
recent (although not yet available
to the general user) is the ability
to translate as you speak. They
are not saying when it will become available,
and at the moment it is only being tested in
Mexico with Spanish to English and English to
Spanish. If it actually works it could make a call
to Iberdrola much less of an issue, although I do
wonder about some of the amusing results if it
is less than perfect!
Some users have experienced
difficulties using Skype, especially on some
mobile phones where it has caused the phone
to “lock up” and “freeze”, but it is not the only
option if you wish to talk over the internet – two
alternatives are shown here, and there are still
more available.
28
Tech Tips
Calling Back Home
Viber is a product you may not
have come across yet. Originally
only available for Smartphones,
it is now PC and Mac friendly.
As with Skype, using it in a WiFi
zone means it is completely free
to use, but our experience is that it seems to
work better than Skype in areas where the
connection to the internet may not be as good
as we would like. It also runs better on phones
which have found it hard to run Skype. Viber
is definitely worth a try. If you also install Viber
on your PC you will have the advantage of an
easy to use keyboard if you wish to send text
messages. If your phone has a camera which
points towards you it can be utilised as the
webcam, thus allowing video as well as voice
calls.
Google hangouts is an app
which you can install on Android
or Apple phones, or on a PC. It’s
also available through Gmail on
a PC (where it’s rather hidden
away) and on Google’s new
Inbox which is a new version of Gmail currently
being tested by a number of users. Hangouts
has the same features as Skype and Viber,
allowing voice, text, and video communication.
One small warning though, if you add the
Hangouts app to Google Chrome, it will start up
every time you open the browser, and although
it’s not particularly in the way you may find it
irritating.
Making Phone Calls
Most of us use these systems to call friends and
family who also have the same system installed
on their computer or Smartphone, but they can
be used to make calls to landline and mobile
phones in almost any country as well. You will
need to put some credit onto your account,
but then you’ll find that calls can be very much
cheaper than even a phone card – and your
credit doesn’t expire after so many days as it
does on a phone card. At the time of writing,
calls from Skype to a UK landline cost 2 cents