Skype is Dead

[cjd]

Skype has been a big part of my professional life.

In 2003 free phone calls made the news and was responsible for a plummeting in the cost of international calls and the death of the phonecard. I couldn't see how it could survive without income but then I also said that people in the UK wouldn't buy bottled water.

I also know someone who was offered 25% of Skype for £300,000. It wasn't just me.

Microsoft bought it for $8.5bn and has now just thrown it away in 2025. It's not easy trying to operate a sane business in such insane industry. Big Tech has different rules of business.

Anyway, I see that this morning that my inbox is full of number porting request alerts. We rescued a few hundred Skype numbers a few years ago when they dumped a lot of their London numbers. Looks like we'll be doing it again. Happy to help

Microsoft is shutting down Skype after over two decades

Internet calling service that disrupted landline industry to close in May as tech giant says it will focus on Teams

www.theguardian.com

 

[Porky]

I would say it's likely on its way out, in one of my businesses a few of the staff use Skype but bulk use Zoom and Teams all the time. Then you have all these other players, WhatsApp etc etc.

I would image Microsoft have looked at the numbers using it and new sign ups and it's reducing significantly over period hence made the call to bin it off.

 

[fisicx]

They want you to use and pay for teams. I need to find an alternative for Skype - it’s my primary means of communication with overseas clients. Don’t use the phone bit but it’s perfect for screenshots, file uploads and general discussion.

 

[ctrlbrk]

I need to find an alternative for Skype

Same here - I'm looking into Viber, Zadarma, Talkroute, Signal

 

[fisicx]

Same here - I'm looking into Viber, Zadarma, Talkroute, Signal

Problem is the other party (ie my clients) also need to be signed up

 

[ctrlbrk]

Problem is the other party (ie my clients) also need to be signed up

My understanding is that with some of the ones I quoted they do not.

Just like with Skype, with Viber (or Zadarma I believe) you don't need your counterpart to use the same system. You can have VoIP to landline calls as well.

I haven't looked into it in great detail at the moment but with Skype's demise these are some of the options.

 

[cjd]

Heard from a new customer today trying to port his Skype number to us that parts of the Skype website are already shutting down.

If you're going to move your number somewhere, make sure you've got something from them that can show that the number is yours - reputable companies need to see that. They usually send an email receipt and pdf don't delete it..

 

[eteb3]

@fisicx with your skills is a self-hosted instance of Big Blue Button an option?

FOSS

Built for schools but an international NGO I work with uses it simply for conference calls.

Send the “room” link and no software or login required the other end

 

[fisicx]

I’m looking at all sorts of options. This week there be a lot of testing!

 

[ctrlbrk]

I’m looking at all sorts of options. This week there be a lot of testing!

I switched to Viber, but the issue I have is that my outgoing calls are displayed on the receiving end as random numbers from Romania - tech support wasn't helpful on this, so it's not the best.

@fisicx did you ever find an alternative?