Montreal resident Steve Felix uses his "the bridge" blog to "share his thoughts on the world of institutional real estate and other stuff."

In an Aug. 8 entry on other stuff, he describes how he had signed up for Skype years ago, but only the previous week had given it a spin with a call from his son in London.

He was impressed: "It was amazing how clear the connection was. Skyper-Skyper calls are free. If you use Skype to call a non-Skyper there's a charge but a friend of mine in London says that by using Skype their company saves 35% on their telephone bill. Not too shabby.

"Today I buy a good headset and start encouraging certain friends and business colleagues to sign up (P.S. Skype also has a camera feature and as my new MacBook Pro has a built-in camera it's easy for people to see me through the Skype connection). Now, if I choose to use that feature I better be sure that I've combed my hair first!"

So if you're thin king about saving money when you contact friends, family and business associates, why not follow Steve Felix's example?