Skype on MacOS -- Office 365 Family situation -- some family members tech-illiterate

[Wingsley]

FAMILY SITUATION
Some household members here are elderly, tech illiterate (USA)
Some relatives living abroad (Europe)
I have been using Macs since 1986.

I have been tasked with looking into the use of Skype. Our familiy's landline phone is plagued with constant telemarketer/scam/robo calls; the landline answering service has been adjusted to pick up on the 2nd ring to minimize the phone ringing endlessly. So incoming calls from European relatives are difficult to answer.

We can schedule times for calls over either Facebook DM or e-mail.

This household has an active Microsoft Office 365 Family account, which includes Skype.

We have never used Skype before; no even me. If I am to learn how to set Skype up for use, and if we are to use it effectively, I need to find useful resources that I can use to learn and master Skype. I would prefer to avoid sifting through random YouTube videos that may or may not be helpful. (I recently did a search and found several that were old or not Mac-centric.

1: What learning resources are out there?

2: Can Skype (or Facebook Messenger) be used for video conferencing? (This could be useful for more than just talking with relatives.)

3: Our current hardware:

• M1 Mac Mini running MacOS Monterey (no web cam yet)
• late-2013 Core i5 iMac running MacOS 10.14 Mojave
• late-2013 Core i5 13-inch MacBook Pro unning MacOS 10.14 Mojave
• iPad Mini 2 running iOS 12
• iPhone SE (2022) running iOS 15
• Verizon DSL (not the greatest) connected to Apple Airport Extreme

all computers have Office 365 installed. Of all of the computer hardware listed above, none is due to be immediately replaced. The first candidate for replacement will likely be the laptop, which would likely be replaced with a 2022 M2 MacBook Air. No date for purchase on the horizon. May eventually be purchased as a refurb direct from Apple.

 

[Slartibart]

looking at your hardware - wouldn’t it be easier to use Apple’s Facetime? My experience with elderly people is that they operate that quite well - especially on iDevices.

Having written that, I have used Skype for years to communicate with my rather large family which lives distributed over 4 continents. So, yes, it will allow video chats. We used it mainly in the past because it allows to pay for a Skype number which e.g. can be reached through normal phone calls from land lines or mobiles. I know it is not really helpful, but depending on wether you like to read or prefer a video, you’ll easily find an introduction to skype via the search engine of your choice.

If the participants are using the same platform, in this case Apple devices, I personally would go with Facetime, because “it’s one user account less to take care off” - and for a occasional call from e.g. an Android phone user one can easily create and send a Facetime link.

nota bene: this introduction to skype might have you covered.

 

[Wingsley]

looking at your hardware - wouldn’t it be easier to use Apple’s Facetime? My experience with elderly people is that they operate that quite well - especially on iDevices.

Having written that, I have used Skype for years to communicate with my rather large family which lives distributed over 4 continents. So, yes, it will allow video chats. We used it mainly in the past because it allows to pay for a Skype number which e.g. can be reached through normal phone calls from land lines or mobiles. I know it is not really helpful, but depending on wether you like to read or prefer a video, you’ll easily find an introduction to skype via the search engine of your choice.

If the participants are using the same platform, in this case Apple devices, I personally would go with Facetime, because “it’s one user account less to take care off” - and for a occasional call from e.g. an Android phone user one can easily create and send a Facetime link.

nota bene: this introduction to skype might have you covered.

Does Facetime work with non-Apple hardware? I can't guarantee that our European relatives have Macs or iOS devices.

 

[Slartibart]

Does Facetime work with non-Apple hardware? I can't guarantee that our European relatives have Macs or iOS devices.

If they can run Chrome on their device sending a Facetime link will probably work.

If the hardware within your group is not that homogeneous, Skype, or probably Whatsapp in case of europeans, might be the better choice.
IMHO the advantage of Facetime lies in having not to take care of additional user logins and the privacy and integration it offers. Personally I am at a point in my life where it is easier and faster to supply some elder family members with an iPad and help to set it up from afar or while visiting next time, and then never look back and use Facetime, occasionally sending out Facetime links to Android users in the family.

 

[Ruggy]

You don't need Microsoft 365 to use Skype. You can simply download it off the site and it is cross platform.
I think it will run on just about anything and it really isn't difficult at all to set up. I don't think you need a tutorial.
You just need a user name and a password for each user.
We've been using it for family conferencing for years and I managed to stay in touch with my mum in her last days with her accessing Skype from a Fire tablet so, it's pretty easy to use.
You can even use it directly from the browser.
If you're not sure of the equipment the family has though you'd be well advised to chectk that they do actually have a functioning webcam and sound. You're more likely to have problems with that than setting it up.
All the basics are on the Skype help page and really, you don't need much more than this. Some of us have been using Skype a long time before it was bought by MS

How do I get started with Skype? - Microsoft Support

How do I get started with Skype?

support.skype.com

I don't know if there's anything more complete but definitely start there. It's pretty simple so I doubt there'll be much else.
It's best if you go into the privacy settings and check who can find you though. It's in preferences and it's under 'my account'. They really need to be set so they can only be seen by contacts otherwise you get all manner of people wanting to talk to you. It just needs poking around. Most programs work pretty much the same these days.
As someone else said, Skype credits are a good way of making international calls and it has the added bonus that if you add a little money to your account as a Skype credit, you won't get any annoying adverts.
I believe it works a little bit better than Facetime myself.
Whatsapp is also a very good choice but we still use Skype for video calls.

 

[HDFan]

Our familiy's landline phone is plagued with constant telemarketer/scam/robo calls;

Is this a U.S. landline? If so nomorobo will cut down your spam calls by maybe 90%. No charge for landlines.

Stop robocalls and spam texts with Nomorobo

Finally! No more annoying robocalls and spam texts.

nomorobo.com

 

[Wingsley]

Is this a U.S. landline? If so nomorobo will cut down your spam calls by maybe 90%. No charge for landlines.

Stop robocalls and spam texts with Nomorobo

Finally! No more annoying robocalls and spam texts.

nomorobo.com

I'll have to investigate this.

The phone-in-question is a US Verizon landline. (But I've also been receiving spam texts on my iPhone.)

We have an extra complication here: elderly members of this household foolishly started talking to scammers, esepcially sweepstakes scammers, in recent months. These scammers are relentless, faslifying caller ID's (probably using VOIP or other tech) use high-pressure tactics on elderly victims, and have been known to call a household anywhere from 10 to 50 times per day (per scammer). This has made life most interesting.

 

[Ruggy]

Additional to what I wrote above, you can set the profiles up for your elderly relatives from your computer.
You sign out of Skype then create a new profile and set it up how you like. It saves the details on the web not on their computer so they can sign in from anywhere. You just need to make sure they have it installed and give them the user name and password.
Thinking about Whatsapp, I don't think you can use it on PC You can on the mac if you have it on a phone nearby but I'm pretty sure you can't do that on a PC

If they are talking to scammers you definitely need to do something about that.
Do they really need a landline at all?
Get them to use a mobile and point out it tells you who's ringing and they aren't allowed to answer to anyone they don't know if they don't leave a message

 

[Slartibart]

Whatsapp Web and Whatsapp desktop require indeed that you activate them via the mobil version.

IMHO the best solution is the one which requires the least amount of “tech support” - e.g. if the larger part of the participants is European they probably are already familiar with Whatsapp and it is easy for them to get help when the “official tech support” of the group isn’t available... and “official tech support” here is the person who initiates the whole thing 🤓

Technically probably most solutions available will serve (Zoom, Jitsi, Big Blue Button, Teams, Google Duo, &,&,&,… and, yes, Skype too 😎) - from my experience the difference is in how much time the “official tech support” has to dedicate to it. Additionally I would check which apps or programs are already in use by the group and then choose the app which is used by the majority of people who aren’t techsavvy - because it will eat less life time from the “official tech support”.

Due to the effects of the COVID-pandemic during the last 2.5 years (and due to my job) I have help to setup video conference solutions for a variety of groups (ranging from families, residences of the elderly, to student groups or whole schools) - as a result I now value my personal time a lot more then 3 years ago. 😂🤣🤪

I assume that the solution the OP looks for isn’t effected by e.g. the european laws of personal data protection - that’s of course a guess based on the consideration of Skype - so any solution will do.
But as I said, I would let the tech-unsavvy part - at least if there are several people - dictate which solution to use: if within these group some app is already used or the people are at least partly familiar with, the OP should go with that.
And if some “new” solution hast to be implemented/used, I would choose the one which allows for a one-button-set up for the tech-unsavvy e.g. I would probably get some tablet for my grand aunt and set it up in a way that the Skype icon (or whatever app is deceided on) is prominently placed, a.k.a. only that icon on the home screen.

That will keep the amount of time to be invested setting the whole thing up down. YMMV.

 

[HDFan]

(But I've also been receiving spam texts on my iPhone.)

Number of options to handle this.

Nomorobo has an IOS version for phone calls for which they do change

Message spam can be reported to your carrier. For T-Mobile forward to 7726.

Malwarebytes for IOS also has an app for phone calls which scans and allow you to report numbers not caught.

I do report spam message phone numbers to the phone call filter apps. Probably doesn't do anything.

You also report problems to the FCC. Not an immediate solution as it just give them evidence to go after spammers, a process that can take years.

Submit a request – FCC Complaints

consumercomplaints.fcc.gov

 

[DoFoT9]

I guess the main question is - how much time do you want to spend teaching new stuff to family members? I could recommend giving Microsoft Teams a serious consideration. Skype will be discontinued shortly (they delayed the July 31st 2021 date, so it's not worth wasting your time on it. WhatsApp/Facebook/etc chat - can you trust them?

Microsoft Teams is simplistic to use, can be installed on any device (includes web browser support), and is free for family members/households. It won't have the same level of convenience that FaceTime does, but I've been happy with it. Goodluck!

 

[Slartibart]

just for the protocol: Skype for business was retired and customers migrated to Teams in 2021. Skype Personal is still available and supported.

 

[DoFoT9]

just for the protocol: Skype for business was retired and customers migrated to Teams in 2021. Skype Personal is still available and supported.

Yes, thank you for pointing out this important point! I do not know if there is any plans to decommission the personal platform.

 

[Wingsley]

Just for clarification:

When it comes to a local household communicating with relatives, we're talking about only two households here; one in the USA, one in Europe. There is more than one computer here in the US household. I assume there's just one computer in the European household (likely a Windows machine, but I'm not absolutely sure).

Use of teleconferencing over computer/internet could have other uses for things my family is involved in, but that would be icing on the cake.