You can call a group of up to 25 of your closest friends and colleagues for a video chat absolutely free now in Skype. Actually, you probably want to keep that down to about 5 if you want an acceptable level of call quality, but nonetheless the group call feature, which was formerly available only to paying premium subscribers, is now free for everyone.

Setting up a group chat is easy. Click the Group icon and then drag your Skype Contacts from the left panel into the Group calling window. You can save the group for fast access at any time by clicking Save group in Contacts.

Although Skype will allow up to 25 people in your group call, they recommend no more than five. Beyond that, bandwidth issues can degrade call quality pretty drastically.