I’d like to be able to communicate via some kind of video link to my family in New Zealand. Is it easy to do? And what would I need?

Even in comparatively recent times, operating a personal videophone was some absurd sci-fi vision of the future, akin to strapping on a jetpack or having a robot attempt to do your ironing. But if you have one of the newer models of mobile phone and a 3G network connection, it’s almost within your grasp, as Sarah Whelan notes. “My Nokia phone seems to have a ‘video call’ option,” she writes, “but I’m unsure of who I could call with it, or indeed what on earth it might cost.” Same here, Sarah – until last weekend, where I successfully test drove a mobile video call on the 3 network to an unsuspecting friend of mine sitting at home a few miles up the road. We pretended we were in the film Bladerunner for about a minute. Cost? 50p. It may not be a widely used facility, but there’s no denying that it works.

But if you’re prepared to sacrifice mobility and you’ve got access to a broadband internet connection, you can make video calls to any part of the world for free using your computer and a webcam-microphone combination. Easily-downloadable software packages such as Skype, iChat, Yahoo Messenger and Windows Live Messenger have expanded beyond their original purposes – instant text or voice communication – and now have video facilities built in. Once you have made sure you’re running the same program as the person you wish to talk to, it’s almost a case of plug in and go. Almost, because although PC users have a wealth of cheap webcam options, it’s slightly trickier for Mac users. Jennifer Cowan wrote in, asking: “But how do Mac users communicate with relatives abroad who use PCs?”

In theory, talking between the two platforms should present no problems; what does, however, is finding a webcam for the Mac that works with the chat software you’re using. New Mac laptops might come with an iSight camera built in, but stand-alone iSights that plug into older models are hard to find, and cripplingly expensive. There are cheaper options: Logitech webcams seem to be compatible with Macs running Yahoo’s chat software, and Rick Hunter commends “the Genius Look 320S, which works perfectly with Skype.” If you’d rather bypass the computer altogether, BT make a couple of stand-alone videophones – retailing at over £150 – which connect to the internet and let you talk for free with any computer users running BT’s chat software. Once you’re both kitted out, it’s simply a matter of arranging a time to talk, logging on, and enjoying the new reality of seeing a long-lost family member wearing a headset and moving slightly jerkily around the screen. But the quality’s only going to improve; science fiction no longer.