Yahoo! Messenger Tutorials

Using PC-to-PC Calling

Placing a PC-to-PC Call Leaving a Voice Message Receiving a PC-to-PC Call Placing a Call on Hold

Receiving a PC-to-PC Call

Yahoo! Messenger offers two ways to receive calls:

  • PC-to-PC calling—any of your friends who know your Yahoo! ID and use Messenger 7 or higher can call your computer and the two of you can talk just like you’re both on the phone. You just need to be signed in to receive the call. And the best part? It’s free.

  • Premium Yahoo! Phone In feature Yahoo! Phone In—a premium Yahoo! Messenger feature that allows your friends to call your computer from a regular telephone or a mobile phone. Learn more about this feature in the Using Yahoo! Phone In tutorial.

Your friends can even call you and leave voice messages when you’re not signed into Messenger or not accepting calls.

Tips:

You can’t receive PC-to-PC calls or use Yahoo! Phone In when communicating with Windows Live™ Messenger contacts.

If you haven’t already done so, use the Call Setup Assistant, as described in the Introducing Yahoo! Messenger’s Call Features tutorial, to be sure that your microphone and speakers are set up properly.

 

Here’s How

  1. If you’re signed in to Yahoo! Messenger and a contact calls your computer using the PC-to-PC call feature, you’ll see a pop-up notification of the call on your computer screen.

    A pop-up notification of an incoming call.

    Tips:

    If you have Open Talk enabled, you won’t see this window unless you’re already on a PC-to-PC call.

    You’ll always see the Yahoo! Phone In call popup window.

    If you have an IM window open with the contact who’s calling, the call area of the window changes to show that there’s an incoming call.

    The incoming call notification on the instant message window.

    In both cases, you’ll also hear a ringtone if you have enabled ringing. Respond by clicking the appropriate button:

    • Accept: If you accept the call, the connection is made, and you can begin talking just like you do on the telephone.

    • Decline: If you decline the call, the caller has the option of leaving you a voice message, which you can listen to at your convenience. By the way, your caller won’t know that you’ve declined the call; he or she will hear a few rings and then be invited to leave a voice message.

    • IM Only (only available in the pop-up notification window): If you select this response, the call ends. An IM window opens so you and your contact can communicate by typing messages instead.

    If you don’t choose any of the available responses within about 20 seconds, the caller has the option of leaving you a voice message. If you have an IM window open with caller, you’ll see an inline notification about the missed call and the Voice Messages & Call History window will display.

    A missed call notification tells you who called, along with the date and time.

  2. Once you accept a call, the IM window changes to show that you’re connected, with a timer indicating the length of the conversation so far and status displays for the microphone and speaker.

    The instant message window displays the call's duration so far.

    Either you or the caller can end the call at any time by clicking the End Call button.

    Click the End Call button to hang up.

 

What’s Next

If you miss a call, the caller can leave you a voice message that you can listen to at your convenience. To learn more about voice messaging, see the Working With Voice Messaging & Call History tutorial.

Just as with a telephone conversation, either person can put the other on hold.

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Words to Know

  • Contact: a person with whom you interact; someone to whom you might want to send an email or instant message.
  • IM: the acronym for instant message.
  • Open Talk: a Messenger feature that lets your friends connect a PC-to-PC call to your PC without waiting for you to accept the call.
  • PC-to-PC calling: the ability to call another person’s computer from your computer; similar to placing a phone call. Both you and the person you are calling must have a Yahoo! ID and be logged into Yahoo! Messenger.
  • Ringtone: a brief audio file played to indicate an incoming call. You can select your preferred ringtone in Yahoo! Messenger.
  • Voicemail: a message left in the caller’s own voice for the intended recipient to listen to later.
  • Windows Live™ Messenger: Microsoft® Windows’ free instant messaging application.
  • Yahoo! ID: the name by which a person is known to all Yahoo! networks.
  • Yahoo! Phone In: a premium, subscription-based service of Yahoo! Voice that attaches a phone number to your Yahoo! ID so that you can receive phone calls to your computer through Messenger.