After a CAPTCHA entry and email confirmation, you're ready for Skyping. Both subscription and pay-as-you-go credits are available, starting at $2.99 a month for US and Canada, and 2.3 cents per minute.Ībsent any of those options, new users can sign up for a Skype account by entering an email, DOB, gender, language, mobile phone number, and a new Skype user name and password. More than just for video-calling, Skype is pretty much an all-in-one communication service not only does it offer voice, video, and text chatting with other Skype users, but you can call regular phones at much lower rates than you'd pay traditional phone carriers.

Microsoft, which bought Skype last year, has rectified that situation: The Skype app for Windows Phone now can accept and notify you about calls and chats no matter what else you're doing on the phone. In our original review of Skype for Windows Phone (free, with optional service fees), our main beef was that it lacked background operation, making it pretty pointless for inbound communications. I'm often amazed at how many hot new 'breakthrough' apps really just offer subsets of what Skype has offered for over a decade, apps like Kik, Oovoo, Viber, and WhatsApp. Skype is part of the culture at this point, with widespread use in both personal and public spheres.

Text chat lacks photo or file transfer.

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