>Have seen Skype mentioned here several times, starting a dedicated thread.
>
>I just did a fairly quick (~10 minute) search online and was overwhelmed with information. What are the most important things to keep in mind? Some specific questions I have are:
>
>Do you have to be close to a computer to make calls?

Want the freebie, yes. "Close" as in "speaking into a headset and microphone plugged into a sound card on a PC connected to the network". Care to pay extra for skype-in or skype-out or skype phone, then read more.

>What is the sound quality and responsiveness like? I saw someone mention delayed transmissions, "like a satellite interview."

Depends on the bandwidth. Generally, anywhere on this continent is fine, Europe too. Asia, surprisingly good. Australia, New Zealand - also quite good, though it could use some clarity - but then, had only a couple of conversations and it could have been a bad microphone etc.

>What is the real cost?

PC to PC is free, i.e. Skype-to-Skype. PC-to-phone, depends on the country. For most of the West (i.e. US, Canada, most of Europe) it's $0.041 per call plus $0.02 per minute. When we call home, it's $0.11 per minute (but $0.30 if cell phone is on the other side). The deal varies per country.

>What kind of phones can you use? What phone features are most important?

No clue, haven't tried to use it with a phone. In 95% of the cases is't PC-to-PC, 4.5% PC-to-phone, and for the rest there's a regular phone.

>Do you use a new phone number, an existing number, or your choice?

You can have a dozen phone numbers to which to be called - in various countries, if you want - and those calls will be accepted by a server somewhere and passed to you via IP. But if you call, it goes through IP network to the nearest server and engages the landline for the last leg of the trip, so the downside is that you won't be recognized by caller ID.

>Is Skype a replacement for either a land line or cell phone, or a cheaper additional option?

For me, it's a replacement for long distance and international. I have a landline for local calls and receiving long distance.

One thing that you didn't ask: it's also an instant messenger - and you can easily have conference calls. Actually, what I mentioned about the sound being lower sample rate (or sometimes sounding a bit R2D2) is when the caller for the conference call has insufficient bandwidth or the Vista is strangling his laptop. I.e. to make an eightfold conference it takes some substantial resources. My motherboard is 2.5 years old (single core Athlon 64) and I can easily call two people at the same time. Tried six once and ran into bad sound, so the limit is somewhere in between.

And it's doing great with video chat, one-on-one, though. That's how we talk with our daughter in Seattle - a couple of hours every weekend, actually showing each other things, noticing changes in hairstyle etc.