Calling Home

Dear All:

As you start your planning (and later your packing!) for the Academy session this summer, we want to mention that you might well want to bring your laptop with you. Although it is not a requirement that you bring one, there are 2 reasons you might want to do so.

First, much of the in-class work will have you online for research, evaluation of global media outlets, and for the creation of the class’s own web pages. There are not enough computer terminals at the Schloss to allow everyone individual access, so you might prefer to bring your own, so you are not waiting in line to use one.

Second, you may well want to bring your own laptop to keep in touch with family and friends. The Meierhof and the Schloss have public spaces with wireless Internet access available. Having your own laptop will be an advantage if you are used to emailing and IMing friends at all hours, but having your own laptop may well be an advantage if you want to make international calls.

There are numerous ways to call back home (wherever that may be) and you may want to check with your cell phone provider before you go to add international roaming onto your plan. If you have a tri or quad-band phone, you may be able to use your own cellphone and number while you are in Austria. But we don’t recommend that you do so for other than short or emergency calls as the toll charges will be very high. If you have an unlocked phone you can purchase an international SIM card and swap out your US SIM card for the duration of your visit, or you can get pay-as-you-go phones. But unless you are planning on doing additional travel in Europe this summer, any of those options may be more hassle than they are worth.

What we HIGHLY recommend is that you sign up with SKYPE. SKYPE is a free internet telephone platform. To sign up for SKYPE, simply go to: http://www.skype.com. Download SKYPE (absolutely free) and signal your friends and family to do the same. You will pick a call name, similar to how you choose an email address. With your “name” you can search for your friends and family and talk via your computers at no cost. SKYPE is used by the employees of the Salzburg Seminar for their global communications. It’s both reliable and clear. Skyping from computer to computer is free–but there are options for skyping from a computer to a mobile or land line. Those calls do cost something, but are typically far cheaper calls than a mobile to a mobile (or landline) call.

The only purchase you will have to make to make the SKYPE calls clear (and easy) is to buy an inexpensive headset with microphone–you can buy one at Staples for less than $20. If you have a new-ish Mac you may already have a microphone installed in your computer and therefore you would not need to purchase a headset with one, but doing so will likely give your calls better clarity and more privacy. Please let us know if you have any questions about SKYPE. You may want to sign up now to “test” the service–it works just as well across town (or across the country) as it does around the world.

We look forward to seeing you in Salzburg in a little over 2 months–with or without your laptop!