Skype?

mrsdarling

My mom's been having some health trouble recently, and since I was just there to visit her a few weeks ago I really can't afford to fly back again right now.  But I want to be able to check in on her and see how she's doing.  So, I figured I could use my laptop's webcam to talk to her on Skype - she also has a webcam set up - and then at least we can talk (sort of) face to face.

Has anyone here used it before?  Did you like it?  I've learned one thing already that I don't care for... my washed-out, no-makeup webcam face!

kaesha

We use Skype all the time to talk to Phil's parents in England! What I hate the most is how often the calls are dropped - but I think that's due to their connection, rather than Skype itself.

adpilove

Oh I love it even though we don't use it as often as we should.  I,too, hate the look of my mug on there, but oh well, that's not what its for, right?  Ours freezes up sometimes so that's really the only complaint. 

chikarakobu

I use it daily to talk to DH.  It can be static-y, calls can get dropped, etc but I think that might even have to do with your/their headset.  Something was up with DH's mic (on his headset) and it just sounded awful.  Once he changed headsets, it got much better.  There can also be a delay sometimes.

Other than that, you can't beat that it's free!  TG I don't have a webcam because that would be scary!

 

chikarakobu

BTW, I hope your mom will be OK!

redshoegirl

We use it to talk to my dad and stepmom, and I agree with a pp - it's good except for the connectivity problems. We've worked out that it works way better over a wired connection vs a wireless one, so now we just make sure we're directly connected to our routers on both ends instead of using the wireless and it works a lot better.

I hope your mom will be OK!

mrsdarling

Thanks, ladies!  Unfortunately, it turns out that my mom's condition is degenerative so it's unlikely to improve, but they caught it early and she is mostly okay for now.  My grandma had the same thing so at least we've got an idea of what to expect in the future.

Thanks again so much for your tips and well-wishes.  I'll let you know how this whole video-chat thing works out!

MauiWedding08

I'm sorry about your mom...

 

my sister uses skype to talk to her BF during the summer and school breaks.  She also set it up a couple of times at family get togethers when my cousins lived out of state.  We all thought it was neat - but like others it would often drop, freeze, or slow but it's free - so no big complaints.

HulaLove

I'm sorry to hear about your mom

We use skype to talk to my parents (who live an hour away), but they claim Elyse changes to much between visits so we do it for them.

kinibruin

awwwww... sorry for your mom... =/

but i LOVE skype.. hahah i actually use it to talk to my sister's kids who live 30 minutes away.. hahahaha

 

inamra

Sorry to hear about your mom =( It's a great idea to video-chat with her though. Skype, Yahoo Messenger, and Google Talk all have video chat. I've used Skype the most (followed closely by Yahoo) but sometimes when connectivity becomes an issue (which it does and calls get dropped, etc), I'll switch over to Yahoo because it's not as popular as Skype so connectivity tends to be a bit better, but Skype is wee bit easier to use...either way, hope it works out for you!