Skype in Europe

I'm tagging along on this post - hope you don't mind. I just set up Skype account for my IPad. A question I have is, are the calls that go between Skype users free? Say for instance, I have my children set up their own accounts on their IPhones. If I call their numbers using Skype, will it be free?

I don't know how Skype works, but iMessage works over the internet between Europe and the States. I used it in Spain and France in July to communicate with my family back home. I used free wifi at hotels and restaurants to send messages between ipads and iphones.

And if both ends are using newer Apple devices, you can use their video conferencing software too...called FaceTime....also free.

While Europe sometimes seems to have more WiFi hotspots than the USA, your success will depend on the quality of your network connection. It's been noted that some US hotels are having trouble with everyone watching videos and Netflix at the same time, loading down the network. It's true that Skype has lower bandwidth, but you have no control over what other users are doing.

I used Skype for calls home using my Ipod from Spain in April. Most of the time I was able to call using the hotel Wifi. Ocassionally, the signal wasn't good enough so went to a McDonald's or Starbucks and called from there. For calls home, I set it up to call landlines. It costs about 2 1/2 cents a minute. I didn't use up my initial $10 deposit during the entire month. Your device will act as if you are in the US when you call - simply dial the area code plus phone number. If you make a local call to Spain or Italy, you have to dial like you would from a phone in the US, international access code, country code, phone number. If you set it up for landlines, you can still call computers that have Skype directly for free. I brought a set of earbuds with a microphone. I had done some test calls before leaving home and decided they worked well whenever there was background noise (hotel lobby if it doesn't work in your room, Starbucks, McDonalds).

And when you call back home to a landline or mobile phone using Skype, the party on the other end will see a US phone number...something like 661-478-xxxx...on their caller ID. You might want to make them aware of it so they don't assume it's a spam call and disregard it when they see a number they don't recognize.