With the
increase in high bandwidth internet access we are seeing a rise in online
dating services that use your high speed capability to a great advantage when
going online to meet people. These
reviewed services offer a great way to meet someone face-to-face without
leaving your home. They go beyond the initial still photo and offer profiles
videotaped from the member's own computer and webcam. They
have live streaming video and video profiles for you to browse. Joining and
usage is easy, you just need your own webcam installed and you are all set. Follow
our reviews and use your high speed internet access to its most complete
potential when visiting online singles services.
WHAT
THEY SAY:Match.com
is a leader in online personals, matchmaking and dating. We offer a fun
and safe environment to meet other quality singles. There is an almost equal ration of
women to men posted ads. Sign up for the Free E-zine and stay
up-to-date with the happenings at Match.com. Feel free to use the
advice columns and receive some real
down-to-earth in-your-face answers for your relationship
questions.
WHAT WE FOUND: Free
to place your personal profile online, we found one of the most
comprehensive questionnaires ever right here. If you are a "serious
single" this is the place for you. Even a quick search will reveal to
you plenty of single men and women in your area, events (when listed)
and a great on-site singles magazine "MatchScene" with realistic advice is always fun and informative to read. Match is one of the
MUST
TRY
Dating sites on-line. There is a really good reason why this is a TOP SITE
for Internet Dating,
it's because of Match.com's success rate in bringing people
together, higher than most other services. Start with placing your own
personal ad online and be sure to complete all areas of the profile
questionnaire. Membership required to reply to messages, included with
your free 3 day full access trial membership.
WHAT YOU'LL FIND: 3
day full access trial membership, picture ads, advice columns and help, e-mail ad match service, free E-zine.
RELATED CATEGORIES:America
- Canada - International
WHAT
THEY SAY:Don’t just meet your match. See them too. This premier online dating
site offers the ability to connect with other site members via live
video by means of special interest and lifestyle channels. DateCam's
website allows users to seek out and meet potential matches in a casual
environment with the benefit of real-time live video and chat.
WHAT WE FOUND:
DateCam is a very unique online dating service. Never before have we
reviewed an online service that has minimum computer requirements that
you have to meet before you can join. But here it is: Internet Explorer
or Netscape versions 4+; 400 mhz; 64 megs RAM; Flash Player 6. You’ll
also want to have a web camera and a microphone hooked up. You will be
using the chat and live video features quite a bit, either in one of the
many chat rooms, or while watching/broadcasting video streams of other
members and the minimum requirements are suggestions to make the
experience more enjoyable for everyone involved. (No one wants your
computer locking up, do they?) Begin your visit by signing up for the
free trial, since you really can’t do much more that check out a random
cam or look at the newest members (Fresh Faces) and checking that you
have the correct version of Flash Player installed (it’s a free viewing
program that will install automatically if you don’t have it yet). Free
membership allows you to post your profile, text and video, and join in
at the chat rooms as well as broadcast live video to other members. If
you want to have private video rooms, private chats or send and reply to
messages, you’ll need to become a premium member. You need to have a
webcam to make the most of DateCam, and since you have a camera (or can
get one here) your profile requires you to also include a picture of
yourself. Up to 8 pictures and one 30 second video can be included in
your profile and you will have many questions to answer about yourself
that will allow others to effectively search for you and get to know you
by what information you have revealed. They will also be able to view
your profile through links in the chat rooms, so be sure that you do
complete the profile questions. Through the use of Flash MX, you are
very easily broadcasting to any of the general chat rooms (we were
broadcasting and chatting within 5 seconds of entering one of the chat
rooms), the drawback here is that chatting is typing chats, audio is not
yet available due to bandwidth concerns. As a paid premium member you
will have 15 hours per month of video watching time to allow you to meet
other members and view their posted video profile. Features include
plenty of chat rooms that include video streams and hosted (moderated)
chat themes on a regular basis, E-Notes (how you communicate with other
members), DateMail (how you receive messages), your DateBook (where you
can keep notes on other members, who’s profile you’ve visited, who has
visited yours, etc.). People that have high speed internet connections
will find this service easy to use, although with the use of Flash MX
anyone using at least a 56K modem should have no problems getting full
use of the DateCam service.
WHAT YOU'LL FIND: Free
to join, post your profile with picture and video, and join the live
chats. Become a premium member to send and reply to messages and watch
other member’s video profiles. Straight and same sex personal ads
available.
RELATED CATEGORIES:America -
International -
Chat - Free
Trial
WHAT
THEY SAY: Yahoo! Personals gives Yahoo! users a way to find and interact
with other people who may share their interests and goals. Just like a
real community, different people may have different opinions and
personalities in Yahoo! Personals
WHAT WE FOUND: The
Yahoo Personals service is only for people that live in America or
Canada (currently) although we do expect international versions to come
out soon. To post an ad you’ll need to be a Yahoo member so you’ll be
prompted to do that first before you join to post your profile. There
are 7 steps to posting your profile but they don’t take very long to
complete. Begin with the type of ad you want to post, or not post. What
this means is that you can keep your profile private so it is not
included in the general search results, but if you answer an ad that
person can read it. Next give yourself a name for your ad. We recommend
that you do not use your Yahoo username, but use something else for your
ad. This will keep your privacy intact in that people won’t be able to
easily guess your Yahoo email address. The next steps will allow you to
post information about yourself, about the type of person you are
looking for and the type of relationship you are interested in beginning
as well as upload pictures and become a subscribing member. Posting your
profile is free but to be able to send and reply to messages you must be
a subscribed member. Once your profile is approved, this takes about 24
hours, you can also add a voice message and a video message to your
profile. The search system is fast and easily customizable using zip
codes, city names and “Importance Levels”, so you can narrow down your
search and find the singles that you really want to meet. You can also
“Be a matchmaker” and search for a match for a friend. The friend will
then have to become a member, but it’s a start to not being single
anymore. The “Mutual Match” system allows you to easily be matched with
people that have the same likes and dislikes as you and will
automatically alert you so you can send them a message (once you’re
subscribed to send messages). And don’t forget about the Yahoo Instant
Messenger chat program: once you have subscribed you can instantly chat
with other subscribed members when they are showing as being online.
With Yahoo being one of the largest web destinations, you should become
a member to see all of the profiles of people that are in your area.
You’ll be surprised there are so many singles so close to where you
live.
WHAT YOU'LL FIND: You’ll
need to be a member of Yahoo to join and it’s free to post your profile.
Add voice and video messages to your profile. Chat using Yahoo IM. Add
up to 5 pictures with your profile. Become a subscribing member to send
and reply to messages. Straight and same sex personals available.
RELATED CATEGORIES: America
- Canada - Free Services
WHAT THEY SAY:
Why iFriends? Because a live picture -- with sound -- is worth more
than a thousand words. And what's more fun than Live VideoChat?
WHAT WE FOUND:
The iFriends webcam community offers free webcam voyeurism for any subject
you can imagine, going well beyond the usual sex channels to offer one on
one interactions in such subjects as Health and Wellness, Personal
Finance, Car Maintenance and hundreds of other subjects. You can even
become an iFriends chathost and offer your advice/expertise to other
members. Membership is free and allows you access to chathost’s that do
not charge for their webcam show, but a credit card is required if you
want access to all areas (including adult areas) for age verification. No
credit card for mainstream only area membership provided the chathost does
not charge for admission. Whichever membership you select, the video
archives of previous shows are free, when available. You pay no fees
unless you expressly enter a room that charges for admission, mostly adult
rooms. More than 3 million members and an opportunity to earn money as a
chathost of your own chat show.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Free membership, hundreds of subjects and chathosts. Paid memberships for
adult areas and some video chat rooms.
RELATED
CATEGORIES:Chat -
Free Services
