Skype

Vivek Jayanand, hardware engineer in Santa Clara, Calif., talks about why he can't live without Skype.

Skype keeps me connected with my wife in India, and I get to see her face -- for free. She won’t be permitted to come to the United States for a couple more years, so we regularly talk to each other using Skype software, our computers, headsets, and webcams. I’ve been using the service for a couple of years.

I like that the video-calling feature allows me and my wife to see each other while we talk. But we usually limit talking via Webcam to once a week, because in India, the amount of bandwidth you can use each month is limited. The video looks pretty good. I have used Yahoo Messenger to communicate via Webcam, as well, but I prefer the video quality of Skype.

I also use Skype to communicate regularly with my parents, who live in India, as well. They needed a little help getting it all set up with their computer, but it’s pretty simple. Once you’ve installed the software, it’s just like instant messaging: You create an account with a username and password and click on the person or people you want to talk with. (They have to have a username and password, too.) You can then chat away without a time limit, all for free. Among other things, you can talk PC to PC, or you can choose to instant message each other -- a feature my wife and I sometimes use. In fact, my PC is always on, so if my wife sees I’m online, she’ll just shoot me an instant message.

I am glad I have the free options with Skype. Nothing beats free, and it definitely allows me to keep in touch with the people I care about.