oldest daughter won a fellowship (yeah!) and is going to study abroad for a semester.

we/she would like her to be in touch with us.

should we be relying upon ichat or/and skype?

she is on a macbook running 10.5, we are on a macbook pro running 10.5.

we have verizon dsl. she will be at a university in argentina so i have been assured she has fast web access.

i have never used either skype or ichat so any primers/tips/thoughts/suggestions are greatly appreciated

be well

rob

We've used Skype to stay in contact with people in England, France and Australia with no problems. The connection to our friends in France is a bit staticy but its tolerable. Not bad for free.

We use a MacBook on our end. The people we talk to use various PCs. We've got Roadrunner and i suppose they have their country's equivalent.

It just works.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/15/2009 06:34AM by bazookaman.

You might look into setting her up with a MagicJack. Buying this costs $40 for the dongle and the first year, and $20 thereafter, but there are no per-minute charges at all. She would have a US phone number in the area code of your choosing. Assuming you already have a phone at your house, talking to her would require no additional work on your end and she could stay in touch with everyone else who has a US telephone too.

I've been using one on a netbook (Macindell Mini 9) for the past several weeks and it's quite remarkable. I bought a small phone and case from eBay and use it when traveling. Its quality is much higher than a cellphone, and after I've already paid ridiculous hotel internet access charges, it avoids additional ridiculous hotel phone charges.

my suggestion would be a Skype acct for both sides.
That way you can both use your computers for access with no charge.
It works very well.
But I'd add a USB headset for both.
Significant improvement over speaking into a laptop.
The Logitechs can be found for $15 or so.

Remember, you MUST use a USB headset with a Mac. You can also get a USB adapter and then you can adapt a PC headset to work.

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Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/15/2009 09:00AM by rgG.

Skype is all you need. Computer-to-computer calls are free. Download, set up free username & account, done.

I find its pretty ok with no headset just talking into the computer, but it can end up with annoying echos. You can also use a bluetooth headset and both of you can thus freely move about the room. This is what I usually do; I don't think I'd bother with a USB headset myself. Adorama has had a samsung headset free after rebate lately.

Since they both have Macs, wouldn't iChat work just as well as Skype? I use Skype w/ friends w/ PCs in Europe but when my daughter goes to France next fall, we will probably use iChat.

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abevilac
Since they both have Macs, wouldn't iChat work just as well as Skype? I use Skype w/ friends w/ PCs in Europe but when my daughter goes to France next fall, we will probably use iChat.

yeah, about as easy to setup as well

get a free AOL account, then use that for ichat -- or -- get a 60 day free .me account, then use those for it, and just let the 60 day trial expire, you get to keep and use your .me address forever

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Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.

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rgG
Remember, you MUST use a USB headset with a Mac. You can also get a USB adapter and then you can adapt a PC headset to work.

No need to be tethered.

Bluetooth works fine.

And there are wireless phone-style handsets. I use one from Keyspan.

And there are dedicated Skype-phones so you don't need a computer in the middle, tho those get expensive.

I suggest starting with a Bluetooth earpiece.

Whatever you do, don't forget to test it thoroughly before sending her off.

A few things in reference to the posts above.

1. MagicJack is great, I used it in South America, but recently a friend tried it, and it was blocked in Ecuador.

2. A USB headset is not necessary. On a MacBook any regular headset is fine and just use the built in Mic for the mic.

3. iChat is great for audio if the connection is bad. I had a friend that lived in Colombia with a weak dial up, and iChat audio years ago was fine. Some routers may block the AIM/iChat server, so having Skype as a standby is good. Just get an account at AIM.com You can use most email addresses as an account name now.

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Doc

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rgG
Remember, you MUST use a USB headset with a Mac. You can also get a USB adapter and then you can adapt a PC headset to work.

No need to be tethered.

Bluetooth works fine.

Yes, BT would be fine also, better probably. I just meant that if he were getting a wired headset that he couldn't use the el-cheapo ones with two leads, that with a wired headset with a built-in mic, it had to connect via USB.

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Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/15/2009 10:28AM by rgG.

My MacBook has audio in and audio out. Why wouldn't a cheap analog headset work?


Nathan

^ good question.

My wife has a headset/mic she uses with our analog cordless phones. So it's the kind where there's only one plug. Is there a USB adapter for that?

That said, wireless has to be more convenient. Pair-up any BlueTooth, like the kind people use with their cellphones? (The follow-up question then is, can you also use that pair it up to your cellphone, and what happens when that rings etc.)

And can any of that be integrated with an iPhone. My wife has Skype on her iPhone but says it often fails to consider her "online" or available. Somebody calls and her laptop "rings" and she can't pick up the call on her iPhone.

I think I just carpet-bombed this thread with like 4 or 5 questions. Merry Christmas!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/15/2009 10:56AM by deckeda.

from my expericence based on video chat with my parents and my parents in law in Romania (from US, of course)

iChat works better than Skype, better image quality, but every 10 minutes or so we drop the connection so we have to "dial" again. That doesn't happen with Skype, however the image in Skype looks slightly worse.

Skype works most of the time, iChat sometimes can be tricky to set up behind routers and you may need to fool around with portforwarding, however 10.5 seems to improve things comapres to 10.4. I heard 10.6 is even better, but I have not tried it on my end.

you do not need a headset with a Mac. I don't know where people get this idea. built-in speakes and microphone work fine on MacBook, if you keep thge volume at 75% or so. Turn volume all the way up and you might get some echo and microphony (I hope that's the right term).

One last thing: we sometimes do a 3-way video chat in iChat (with both my parents and my parents in law, especially when we celebrate a birthday or something). I don't know if you can do that with Skype. maybe not. On, one more... skype can become a supernode if you leave it on all the time. You don't want that. google "skype supernode" and you'll see why

finally, set up both Skype and iChat and see which one works better when she gets there.

(sorry, I don't have time to check spelling...)

I travel a lot all over the globe and I use both iChat and skype to connect to colleagues or home. I found, in general, iChat is way better in video quality, but it sometimes has problems with local network settings, specially when behind a firewall. When you on the road you usually don't have control over the local network so iChat or not is always a question.

On the other hand, skype never give me any connection problem, mac or pc. However, it does have bad echo problem when using build-in mic and speakers (the mic will pick up the speaker output and send it right back causing the echoing). It is very easy to resolve: I just use the ear plug from my iPod (or any cheapo ear plug the airline gives you) as the sound output and it works great. No more echos from my end. I am sure a blue tooth/USB headset will work well, too. It is a matter of your own preference.

Another convenient feature for skype is to call regular phones. Add $10 skype credit (like a phone card) and one can use skype to call almost any phone numbers in the world for something like 2-3¢/min. It is quite convenient and very cheap when you travel a lot internationally.

One thing Skype does not do like iChat is video conference calls. I don't know if the newer skype version can do that now but mine doesn't. It will connect multiple participants for conference calls but voice only. iChat can connect up to 4 people total with video (I think) but it requires a lot of band width.

I use skype a lot more often than iChat.

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space-time
you do not need a headset with a Mac. I don't know where people get this idea. built-in speakes and microphone work fine on MacBook...

This is true, but as someone who frequently gets calls from a friend who Skypes using the built-in mic and speakers, I can attest that it is often a very frustrating and annoying thing. It gives the user a false sense that s/he can move around the room freely, but the mic's only really good when the person speaking is within a few feet of the computer and in front of it.

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Doc

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space-time
you do not need a headset with a Mac. I don't know where people get this idea. built-in speakes and microphone work fine on MacBook...

This is true, but as someone who frequently gets calls from a friend who Skypes using the built-in mic and speakers, I can attest that it is often a very frustrating and annoying thing. It gives the user a false sense that s/he can move around the room freely, but the mic's only really good when the person speaking is within a few feet of the computer and in front of it.

And, perhaps you don't want everyone within earshot of the computer to be able to hear both sides of the conversation, say you are at an internet cafe or some other public place and need to place a call.

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Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

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silvarios
My MacBook has audio in and audio out. Why wouldn't a cheap analog headset work?


Nathan

Because the audio in jack is "line level" in, which means the signal from a non-amplified mic won't work. That's why you need a USB adapter like a Griffin iMic to use that kind of headset.

The exception may be the latest MacBook which has a combined audio in/out jack. When I tried it in an Apple store with an iPhone headset with mic it appeared to work fine for both audio in and out.


Good luck.

- Winston

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Be seeing you.

As others have said, both iChat and Skype work reasonably well. Our experience is similar to others: sometimes iChat works best, sometimes Skype is better. Set up both, then use the one which works best for your needs at the time you are using it. Both are very easy to use once set up.

I do second the idea of getting a headset of some kind. I use a Griffin iMic with a cheap earbud with inline mic PC headset. Works great. There are some inexpensive Bluetooth headsets around too.


Good luck.

- Winston

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Be seeing you.

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J_W
Another convenient feature for skype is to call regular phones. Add $10 skype credit (like a phone card) and one can use skype to call almost any phone numbers in the world for something like 2-3¢/min. It is quite convenient and very cheap when you travel a lot internationally.

If you do this just be aware that it costs a lot more to call cellphones in most countries (US and Canada are the exception). Cheaper on Skype than most other ways, but still likely to be at least $0.20/min, and possibly a good bit more. Still, a nice feature and way to be able to reach your daughter if she gets a local cellphone.


Good luck.

- W

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Be seeing you.

iChat is built-in, ready to go, and works great.

iChat also allows easy file transfer and even screen sharing, etc.:

[www.apple.com]

thanks 2 all, your responses are very informative.

we all have blackberries via sprint. i wonder if there was a way for her to use her blackberry down there. if no, i guess she could get herself a local cell phone.

anyone want to suggest reasonably priced usb mic/heaphones?

again, thanks

be well

rob

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Winston

Quote
J_W

Another convenient feature for skype is to call regular phones. Add $10 skype credit (like a phone card) and one can use skype to call almost any phone numbers in the world for something like 2-3¢/min. It is quite convenient and very cheap when you travel a lot internationally.

If you do this just be aware that it costs a lot more to call cellphones in most countries (US and Canada are the exception). Cheaper on Skype than most other ways, but still likely to be at least $0.20/min, and possibly a good bit more. Still, a nice feature and way to be able to reach your daughter if she gets a local cellphone.


Good luck.

Yes I am aware that but forgot to mention... thanks for pointing that out. Sometimes it does cost MORE to call a mobile number than landline depending on country. For example, calling a cellphone number is about 15¢ in JP or 25¢ in UK/min, comparing about 2¢ to a landline number. It is a very common pricing schedule for many IP phone type of services. Overall the charges are about the same as having a local sim card (I always buy one of those prepaid card in the airport - just in case), but still A LOT cheaper than international roaming charges from our cellphone company.

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robfilms
thanks 2 all, your responses are very informative.

we all have blackberries via sprint. i wonder if there was a way for her to use her blackberry down there. if no, i guess she could get herself a local cell phone.

anyone want to suggest reasonably priced usb mic/heaphones?

again, thanks

be well

rob

The Blackberry probably won't work unless it has a spot for a GSM SIM card and is unlocked. Sprint doesn't use GSM, so the basic phone is not compatible. (I don't know if any Blackberries have a SIM option for international compatibility.)

It looks like Argentina uses the same SIM frequencies as in the US (850/1900 MHz):
[www.telestial.com]
So any unlocked US phone would work. You need the phone to be unlocked so that it will work with a SIM from any carrier. Then get a local SIM card in Argentina.

I did run across some conflicting info about CDMA being available in Buenos Aires, but I don't know if the frequencies match those in the US. You might check with Sprint about that, and about whether they can unlock your phone to work with another carrier.

Unlocked GSM phones are easiest to work with: you just buy a SIM card, put it in, and in most cases the phone just works. Pre-paid SIMs are available in most countries and don't require any registration.


Good luck.

- Winston

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Be seeing you.