It's around the time of year when I have to renew my Skype & Skype-Out services. To my surprise, many of my friends, clients and colleagues have no real idea of what Skype is about. In this world of "instant messaging" we all have MSN, Yahoo, ICQ or some kind of messaging system on our computers. So why have Skype? Skype offers the best quality of PC to PC voice and video communications, which costs the very large price of FREE! Yes, other messengers offer this kind of capability, but where Skype surpasses them is the ability to call land lines and cell phones from your computer at a very reasonable price. For a complete year of unlimited calls to the US and Canada, the fee was only around $25. They even offer the ability to receive calls to your computer, but that is limited to certain areas.

Not only is the quality of the calls you can make through Skype superior, the people that run the company have the right idea about promoting and marketing this service and they aren't trying to gouge their users with outlandish prices. And the real hook for me was when they started the PC to Phone service, they offered it for FREE for almost 2 years, and not just to beta testers, but to anyone who wanted to use it. That is the type of company I want to do business with. One that sees the big picture and isn't lead by greed, and that quality far out weighs quantity.

So do yourself a favor and save yourself some money. Give Skype a try. They have a pay-as-you-go option, so you can test it out and see if it's for you. Pick up a headset if you don't already have one and talk to your friends and family without watching the clock.