I really must be living in the dark ages. My fiends in Australia and the UK keep telling me to get onto Skype for free calls anywhere/anytime. Whats the catch and other than down loading their software where would the best place to buy a suitable phone/webcam. I assume that this is not going to replace my BT anytime free calls which do cost quite a bit in rent for the limited time I use the service. Any advice please. H

Skype is free for skype to skype calls, other calls you have to buy a package or add credit like other phone providers.

It runs over p2p so could zap your bandwidth pretty quickly.

Netgear do a skype phone and there are plenty of usb compatible ones out there, but as I don't use skype I can't recommend any.

You can use a simple headset with microphone like this
http://www.amazon.co.uk/H...qid=1257517266&sr=1-5

or a USB phone like this
http://www.amazon.co.uk/g...53&pf_rd_i=B000JDUT90

or various other options like these
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s...ype+phone&x=0&y=0

150 - 200 MB per hour seems to be typical - doesn't seem too bad to me.

For audio I get good results with a standard 2.1 system on the sound card's line out, and one of these http://www.amazon.co.uk/L...qid=1257626836&sr=1-1 microphones.

i use my turtle beach gaming headpones and mic, can be awful connection to places like usa esp if like one of my relatives they have to use satilete broadband due to there loaction and the delay to them is stupid a gd 4-6 seconds

Like the others I tend to use a headphone and mic - there's a mic on my webcam but that can get snarled up with feedback from the speakers, so a headphone and mic is preferable for less interference. You can pick up a cheap set for less than a fiver in most large supermarkets.