A recent study showed Skype international calls grew by 36 percent in 2013. The addition of Skype group video calls could be important for international business too. Once all the contacts for a specific call have been chosen, selecting the big green Video Call button will ring all the contacts at once. From that contact’s Plus (+) menu, selecting “Add People” will open a dialog box with more contacts to choose from. To start a new Skype group video call, one user begins by selecting a contact from their list. Google Hangouts is available as a mobile app while the service is still pending for Skype.īoth services are relatively easy to use, especially for creating and conducting group video calls. But PC World reports that Skype considers groups of between three and five to be optimal. It comes at a time when the market seems flooded with comparable services like Spreecast, and when others like Skype rival Viber are moving increasingly into the video chat space.Ĭomparing Skype and Google Hangouts, both allow groups of up to 10 people to be in the same video call. The new free video call service could be seen as an attempt by Skype to compete with services like Google Hangouts. “While Skype is known for one to one video calling, we know it’s also essential to connect with the groups of people who matter most, whether friends, family or colleagues.” But in an official post on Skype’s “Big Blog,” Phillip Snalune, General Manager of Consumer Product Marketing, said the free service will eventually be available on smartphones, tablets and other platforms too. The company, which is owned by Microsoft, says the new free version is available for Windows and Mac desktop users as well as those who connect via the Xbox One game console so far. Skype launched the Skype group video calls service for premium members back in January 2011, The Next Web reports. Prior to this, group video calls on Skype had been available only if one participant had a premium membership ranging from $4.99 a month to $8.99 for a single day pass.

Skype announced this week that its Skype group video calls service is now free for up to 10 participants on some platforms. Your next video conference on Skype may now be free.

How to group skype call