Cell phone or skype

Prep School Admissions Prep School Parents
1

<p>Turns out her iphone does not work in room or most places as ATT has bad coverage - she can find spots. But, the Dean of Admission said he had Verizon and it does not work in his apt nor office, but does outside and perhaps slightly better than ATT.</p>

<p>So, the room phone is attached to the wall with a short cord and is fairly expensive to use.</p>

<p>Have any of you used skype via your internet. I am sending her a skype headset and getting a skype number. I think that they are free for computer to computer and fairly cheap for land to computer???</p>

2

<p>We have used Skype – the quality is ok, but not great. The lag time that seems to occur frequently is very annoying to me. I would only use Skype if you want the video feature or the cost is a big issue.</p>

<p>If you call her on her room phone, does it cost her? If you have cheap or unlimited long-distance you might try calling her. We have done this in the past – my son will call me and then I call him right back; we only end up paying for a few minutes on his end.</p>

3

<p>Skype’s getting better by the month..or so I’ve been told. </p>

<p>I’ve got a client back in the U.S. that insists on conferencing with Skype for one-on-one. They’ve got a very expensive Sony conferencing set-up in their conference rooms in offices around the world, but when talking to someone at their desk, it’s a ~$50 Logitech webcam and Skype that they turn to.</p>

<p>I’ve just used Skype a couple times this way. It’s decent enough. I’m not a Skype groupie or anything of the sort. But the people I’ve asked about it (who could very well be Skype groupies) swear that the quality improves. And one trustworthy engineer who uses it frequently claims he can tell that there’s an improvement every month.</p>

<p>I’m a dinosaur and I like my phones to ring on phonesets. But I don’t know what other options you have. AIM?</p>

4

<p>My D lost the cell phone we gave her a while ago, and she didn’t feel like replacing it with her allowance, so we didn’t either. She did complain that she’s the only one without a phone, but oh well, a couple of short years ago no one had cell phones. She can call from a hall phone, but there aren’t room phones. So far (2 days!) it’s been email only. We’ll see how long we go…</p>

5

<p>I just got one. Told to get the USB one vs any other connection. Guy at coffee shop said it was better than his cell. I will let you know.
(of course, have to get d to download it, etc.)</p>

6

<p>Pardon my lack of technology know-how, but what exactly is Skype? Is it cheaper than a cell phone as I just recd S phone bill 4x more than usual or the plan because of text messaging.</p>

7

<p>[Skype</a> official website – free download and free calls and internet calls](<a href=“http://www.skype.com/]Skype”>http://www.skype.com/)</p>

8

<p>Tks PD, I have to talk to my IT guy or my 13 yr old S about this. So much, so fast.</p>

9

<p>we’ve been using skype for 2 + years now with my two bs sons. we think its great! </p>

<p>It takes a bit of practice but for tech savvy boys it takes the sting out of calling home. :^)</p>

10

<p>ops–buy an unlimited text message service. We use Verizon for the kids’ cell phones and it seems to be what most of the kids use so the vast majority of calls are within the network.</p>

11

<p>Goaliegirl and goaliemom got matching webcams and skype last week and I had the fun of watching them figure it out. Reminded me of the old “cone of silence” gag from Get Smart the first couple of calls while one or the other was trying to get the audio turned on while they could only see the other one.</p>

<p>They seem to have it down now and yes, the video does get some lag, but it is definitely a good (read that free) thing to have for boarding school.</p>

<p>Her new roomate (old Korean roomy is now a proctor in the frosh dorm) is from Germany and is a regular user calling home overseas.</p>

12

<p>We use Live Messenger with a web cam and microphone and can see and talke online without any kind of phone service at all for free.<br>
Can do just the mic if you want.</p>

13

<p>Ended up increasing his text msgs to 1000. I’d rather pay 10 dollars more a month than have to pay bill like last time. This is just so they can say “hey”,“what’s up” and “sick” back and forth. The phone plan S has is actually pretty good, a Costco special and have been unable to duplicate it since. I don’t know if I want to introduce more technology, its usually the other way around. Talking on line with the web cam is certainly treky.</p>

14

<p>ops-don’t forget about my favorite: k</p>

<p>My D’s were 20 cents per message and the month she began texting included $180 worth of messages! We purchased the unlimited plan for $10 and ended that nightmare.</p>

15

<p>Daughter: hEY! ru there? –> $0.20 Ka-ching!</p>

<p>Friend: Nah. running L8 2day. –> $0.20 Ka-ching!</p>

<p>Daughter: Me too. –> $0.20 Ka-ching!</p>

<p>Friend: Were r u @? –> $0.20 Ka-ching!</p>

<p>Daughter: @the mall. –> $0.20 Ka-ching!</p>

<p>Friend: OMG ME 2!! Were? –> $0.20 Ka-ching!</p>

<p>Daughter: Saks –> $0.20 Ka-ching!</p>

<p>Friend: Bonwits! OMG! –> $0.20 Ka-ching!</p>

<p>Daughter: wanna meet? –> $0.20 Ka-ching!</p>

<p>Friend: ok –> $0.20 Ka-ching!</p>

<p>Daughter: where? –> $0.20 Ka-ching!</p>

<p>Friend: food cort DUH! –> $0.20 Ka-ching!</p>

<p>Daughter: ok. –> $0.20 Ka-ching!</p>

<p>Friend: HEY wot time? –> $0.20 Ka-ching!</p>

<p>Daughter: 1 hr –> $0.20 Ka-ching!</p>

<p>Friend: ok –> $0.20 Ka-ching!</p>

<p>Friend: cu then –> $0.20 Ka-ching!</p>

<p>Daughter: ok but look at this! (attaches picture of rainbow colored purse held by a mannequin) –> $0.45 Ka-ching!</p>

<p>Friend: kewl. chek it out. (attaches picture of herself sticking out her tongue) –> $0.45 Ka-ching!</p>

<p>Daughter: lol –> $0.20 Ka-ching!</p>

<p>Friend: no sales 2day –> $0.20 Ka-ching!</p>

<p>Daughter: i know! –> $0.20 Ka-ching!</p>

<p>Friend: my dad will flip if i dont buy on sale! –> $0.20 Ka-ching!</p>

<p>Daughter: i know! mine 2! –> $0.20 Ka-ching!</p>

<p>Friend: its not like i dont try 2 save $! –> $0.20 Ka-ching!</p>

<p>Daughter: so true. they think we just spend. –> $0.20 Ka-ching!</p>

<p>Daughter: and spend –> $0.20 Ka-ching!</p>

<p>Daughter: and spend!!! –> $0.20 Ka-ching!</p>

<p>Friend: totally –> $0.20 Ka-ching!</p>

<p>Daughter: y cant they c how hard we work at saving them $!!! –> $0.20 Ka-ching!</p>

<p>Friend: got me –> $0.20 Ka-ching!</p>

<p>Daughter: parents r so clueless about how expensive things r –> $0.20 Ka-ching!</p>

<p>Friend: totally –> $0.20 Ka-ching!</p>

<p>$7.10 says parents aren’t as TOTALLY clueless as their kids are.</p>

16

<p>D’yer Maker: Your post is the BEST argument for the unlimited text plan! Glad we have it already!</p>

17

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</p>

<p>Ordinary Text message – $.20
Year at boarding school to keep your daughters out of the mall – $40K
Text message transcript from cellular bill – Priceless!</p>

18

<p>I just switched to skype with video and it really helps to bridge the gap (speaking as a college kid who sill occasionally misses his parents). It’s definatly worth it to get a good camera if you want to try it though, even if it is a heavier one-time cost.</p>

19

<p>Goalie,
I thought the 43K was to keep them out of the mall. I just got an email that they are going to big mall in Baltimore tomorrow…</p>

20

<p>Princess’Dad,</p>

<p>I thought the 43K was to keep him from watch too much MLB, but after one week at BS, I found he watched almost every game (plus foot ball, because the rm!). </p>

<p>I guess maybe this is just the beginning of school, they have less homework or maybe school arrange all the activities so kids won’t get time for “home sick”. </p>

<p>I really hope after one or two more weeks, he will on the right track and focus at what he needs to do.</p>