Finding Love on the Internet: It Works

Oct. 20, 2006 — -- When it comes to love, fate is a thing of the past.

It appears Cupid has tapped into a higher level of a love connection: the Internet.

These days, people are turning to online communication services like Skype, which allow users to talk for free over the Internet.

Skype integrates video and voice through the Internet to make the connection more valuable to users.

Since its launch in 2003, Skype has slowly shifted from being a software that allows friends, families and business partners to connect, to a software that allows users to "matchmake" their ways into an online dating community.

In October 2005, Salwa Al-Saban was in Egypt, quickly writing an e-mail before she headed to bed.

It turned out to be her first encounter with future husband Mark Passerby.

She was fairly new to Skype -- having downloaded the program three days prior -- but she and Passerby quickly fell in love.

"It felt like we'd known each other for 100 years," said Passerby, a 41-year-old from Lansing, Mich.

"It was late at night, and I was typing an e-mail. I stayed up and talked to him for five hours," said Al-Saban, a 25-year-old doctor who later changed her bedtime to coincide with Passerby's.

Within a month, the two got engaged, and soon after, Passerby flew to Cairo, Egypt, to be with his fiancee.

While talking online through Skype, Passerby set up a projector on his wall that allowed Al-Saban to view the movies through the webcam.

"We would watch movies together," she said.

Passerby and Al-Saban found they had many things in common such as music, movies, traveling and tennis.

"It felt perfect," said Al-Saban, upon meeting Passerby in person for the first time.