How to Talk to More Than One Person at Once on Skype

Skype has changed the way many make telephone calls. In fact, some Skype users have thrown out their phones in exchange for using the voice over IP service Skype offers. Not only can you make free local and long distance calls between the US and Canada, you can chat and even talk to more than one person at once on Skype. Skype offers the option to make a conference call, allowing up to four different people plus a host to talk at once. With a conference call, everyone on the call can hear everyone else. Skype also offers an almost limitless number of separate calls to be held at one time. The hold feature allows you to switch from one call to another seamlessly.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Creating a Conference Call

1. Click the "Contacts" tab in the main section of your Skype window.
2. Find your friend’s contact information.
3. Double click your friend’s name.
4. Find another friend you’d like to invite to your conference call from your contacts list. Right click his or her name and select "Invite to Conference" from the menu that appears.
5. Alternatively, invite multiple contacts to a conference call by clicking on contact names as you hold down the CTRL (control) key on your keyboard. Once you have selected the contacts you’d like to invite, click the "Invite Selected Contacts to Conference Call" button.

Initiate Multiple Individual Calls

6. Initiate a call or answer a call while on Skype.
7. Initiate another call by clicking the "Dialpad" tab (that’s the one with the telephone icon on it) or your "Contacts" tab.
8. Dial a telephone number from the dialpad or click on a contact you’d like to talk to.
9. Click the green button with the white receiver in it on the bottom of your Skype application.
10. Click "OK" on the pop-up window that appears.
11. Switch from one call to another by clicking the appropriate tabs in the center of your Skype application.
12. Each call will be contained on it’s own green tab with the name or telephone number of the other participant in white at the top of the tab.

Tips & Warnings

• If you do not see the "Dial" tab on your Skype window, click "View" along the top menu and then choose "View Dialpad."
• You can also reach the dialpad menu by clicking the icon that appears in the menu along top with a telephone in a circular shape.
• Choose the region or country you are calling from the “1” pull down menu. This will default to your home country. You must choose a country code to call your friend with Skype.
• Enter the phone number using your numeric keys on your keyboard in the field next to the number “2.”
• You cannot invite friends that are not in your contact list to a conference call. If you intend to invite non-contacts, initiate the call by dialing their number first or take a moment to add them as a contact.