Skype

I first downloaded Skype when it became a big thing when my friends and I started moving away for to various colleges. At first I used Skype a lot, using it to talk to my friends in different cities so we could actually see each other. Then after a couple of months I grew away from it. The next big time that I used Skype was when I studied abroad in London last year. It was a great tool to talk to my family and friends, for FREE!
Although Skype seems like the perfect solution for long distance relationships with family and friends, there are some downfalls that I have found while using Skype. The first problem that I ever encountered while using and downloading this tool were the technical issues that I came across. The downloading process and searching for friends process seemed too complicated for how it really should have been. It seems like such an easy process to find and search for friends, but it really wasn't all that easy. Another technical issue that I came across while I was in London, was the freezing and fading in and out of the screen when I was in a conversation. It got pretty annoying that this happened quite frequently, and it made it hard to contact my friends and family.
There are however some great uses that this has provided. Of course the free and easy way to contact people is such a plus! I really like how this is free and there isn't any charge. I think it would be so easy to charge people for this, and I really think that people would pay for it too. It's also nice that there is an option of using the telephone tool which you can make calls through your computer. I used this while I was in London because it didn't freeze as often as when I did a video chat. It was nice because it was so cheap! One girl in our program who lived in my apartment while I was over there bought the "calling plan" and since she paid monthly a set charge (which was VERY cheap) she let everyone use it to call home if they wanted. You weren't charged with how many minutes you used or anything like that, so it was a great way to talk to my family and friends. Another great way that this is used is for interviews across the US. Companies now are using Skype to set up interviews instead of traveling across the US to do so.
Overall, I think Skype is a very useful tool and I marvel at the invention that someone came up with!