I have a dedicated Skype phone which plugs into the router, no computer required. Therefore I always appear online to anyone who wants to Skype me, Skype out calls to landlines are usually good quality but obviously depend on the speed of your internet connection.
Also I have the Skype app on my Iphone which saved me quite a bit of money during a recent trip when calling home(to the Skype phone) using the hotels free WiFi. Call quality was perfectly acceptable.
