- Skype For Business Mac Updates
- Skype Business For Mac
- Skype Client For Mac
- Skype For Business Alternative Client Mac
- Skype For Business Mac Settings
If you have Skype for Business Server 2015 and Office 365, see the Skype for Business on Mac column in Client comparison tables for Skype for Business Server 2015. If you have Lync Server 2013, see the Skype for Business on Mac column in Client comparison tables for Lync Server 2013. If you have Skype for Business Server 2015, see the Skype for Business on Mac column in Client comparison tables for Skype for Business Server 2015. If you have Lync Server 2013, see the Skype for Business on Mac column in Client comparison tables for Lync Server 2013. This session will walk you through the new Skype for Business on Mac client. It will show you the user experience, walk you through the features and will take a look under the hood – pointing out when Skype for Business for Mac is different than other clients. Skype for Business on Mac is the all new client that provides great communication experiences for Apple users. Features like one-click join, edge-to-edge video, and full screen sharing give you a superior Skype Meetings experience.
Looking for the free Skype alternatives? This article covers the seven of the best no-cost video conferencing programs around.
Skype is the most well-known app in the world of video conferencing. However, despite recent overhauls, it’s far from being either the best nor the only option.
If you want a Skype alternative that’s among the best video calling software, keep reading. We’re going to look at seven apps that that can act as a Skype replacement.
1. Talky
Talky has grown to be an app like Skype and its competitor in recent years. If you want a free video chat app, you don’t need to look any further.
The app can support up to 15 users in a single conference. And to make the whole process as smooth as possible, you don’t need to download any software or apps. You don’t even need to create an account.
To start a chat, head to Talky’s website, give your chatroom a name, and you’ll receive an automatically-generated link that you can share with people you want to call.
For us, Talky is one of the best free video conferencing apps on the internet. It’s worth checking out.
2. WhatsApp
There are both advantages and drawbacks to making video calls on WhatsApp.
Obviously, the primary benefit is ubiquity. Almost everyone has WhatsApp on their phone, meaning it’s a hassle-free alternative video chat app. WhatsApp is also free to use.
On the other hand, WhatsApp video conferences are limited to a maximum of four users. The number increased from two in July 2018, but it’s still not even close to the limits offered by some of the other best video chat services.
Of course, the other drawback is WhatsApp’s reliance on phone numbers. If you don’t know the number of the person you want to conference with, there is no way to connect with them.
Video calling on WhatsApp is available on the web app and the mobile apps.
3. Jitsi
Jitsi is possibly the best free video conferencing app for privacy fanatics.
The software—which is available on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, and the web—is entirely open source.
It means the app’s code can be thoroughly inspected to ensure there’s no tracking, data logging, malware, or other nasty surprises.
Some of Jitsi’s most notable features include:
- Password-protected chat and video rooms.
- Live streaming via YouTube.
- Shared text documents on which all video participants can collaborate.
- Telephone dial in for people who are away from a web connection.
- The ability to play in-window YouTube videos to all attendees.
- Screen sharing.
As with Talky, you do not need to install the Jitsi app or create an account if you use the web app. Just create the room and share the URL with the appropriate people.
4. Viber
Viber is simultaneously both a Skype competitor and a WhatsApp competitor. It offers free video calling and instant chat to its users.
The app is available on all the major operating systems, including Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, and Linux. Viber is free to download and use, and it is not ad-supported.
In addition to free video chat, Viber also offers chat extensions, end-to-end encryption, support for stickers and GIFs, and chat “communities” with unlimited members. For a fee, you can make outbound calls to non-Viber users’ phone numbers.
Viber’s most significant drawback is the number of users that the video chat can support—you are limited to a maximum of two. If you want a Skype replacement for calling a loved one on the other side of the world, it’s fine. If you want to conduct large video conferences in a business environment, Viber is less suitable.
5. Appear.in
Appear.in is a business-orientated Skype replacement.
Three plans are available, but the entry-level option is free to use and still provides excellent video conferencing features.
The free video chat lets you create one meeting room for up to four users. You’ll also get a custom URL to share with invitees and the ability to share your screen.
Having a custom URL means attendees can join the video conference without needing to download any software on either their desktop or their mobile device.
If you’re happy to spend $9.99 per month for a subscription, you’ll get three meeting rooms for up to 12 participants. The Pro tier also offers video chat recording for an extra $5.
Skype For Business Mac Updates
6. Jami
If you need an app that supports an unlimited number of participants, Jami is probably the best free video conferencing app you’ll find.
Jami is also unique compared to some of the other apps on this list. Instead of relying on centralized servers for communications, it uses distributed hash tables (DHT).
Using distributed hash tables is a big boost for your privacy; it means any third person or organization cannot monitor the servers for mass surveillance.
Your private keys are only stored on your device, so Jami does not have access to any of your information or data.
Some of Jami’s other features include free quality calls with other users, call recording, voice messaging, video messaging, and file sharing.
7. Slack
Finally, it’s worth considering Slack as an alternative video chat app.
Over the last few years, Slack has become one of the must-have business apps. When the company introduced integrated video calling in 2016, it only reinforced the position.
Skype Business For Mac
Slack video calling is available to all users; you don’t have to be a paid subscriber.
Natively, you can only have video conference calls with other members of your workspace. You can have up to 15 participants.
Slack also lets you install third-party plugins. Some of them will allow you to make video calls to external phone numbers and users.
Skype Client For Mac
Other Ways to Make Free Calls
The seven apps we have discussed are all among the best video chat apps; they are all valid Skype replacements.
Skype For Business Alternative Client Mac
However, there are lots of other ways to make free calls. Some apps even let you make free calls to external phone numbers.
To learn more, check out our articles on how to make free calls to any US number from anywhere and the best apps for making free phone callsThe 5 Best Free Calling Apps for Making Free Phone CallsThe 5 Best Free Calling Apps for Making Free Phone CallsFree calling apps provide free phone calls and texting. Here are some great options for Android and iPhone.Read More.
Explore more about: Chat Client, Collaboration Tools, Online Chat, Skype, Video Chat / Call.
Skype For Business Mac Settings
- I'm still using Win 7. In their efforts to force everyone to migrate to Win 10, they have disabled skype on all previous platforms. It just doesn't work anymore. I don't want to be forced onto Win 10.
- I've been using Skype for 10 years, it just gets worse and worse.
BUT! I found a possible fix for you. I have Windows 10 and Skype for Desktop and my Skype never rang when anyone called me so I always missed my calls.
Here's the fix:
On my Desktop I right clicked the Skype icon, then in the top menu I clicked Compatibility. Then I checked the box '“Run this program in compatibility mode for' and clicked 'Windows 8' Now Skype rings! So you should click on 'Windows 7' and see if this helps you.
- I just couldnt get used to Skype 8, I hated the ringing voice and well, almost anything about skype. I started to use Whatsapp and never going back to Skype. There are great alternatives in this page.
- Why does Micro$oft suck so much?? They're probably the biggest computer company with lots of resources, supposedly the brightest minds, but all of their products are infuriating with so many bugs. For Skype in particular if I'm on a video call & I switch to another app, my partner's video goes off, I go to the chat to type a message to them when I go back to their video it's off, I turn my phone landscape it goes off, all even though they have their video active. Each time it happens I have to end the call, completely close Skype & restart it then call again.
The only reason I use Skype is because my girlfriend & I use the auto answer feature so we can call each other easily. We're searching for another app with this feature, when we do, bye bye Skype- 'They're probably the biggest computer company'
That is your answer. Once M$ was allowed to get away with 'each and every PC you ship WILL have OUR O/S installed or you pay list price' type of contracts with PC makers, they had the market by the short ones and their revenue stream was guaranteed. They have users trapped with the vendor lock-in. They know that whatever they put out, no matter the quality, the users WILL HAVE TO accept and use. Even with the garbage they market, they are making money hand over fist.'The only reason I use Skype is because my girlfriend & I use the auto answer feature'
Apparently the convenience of that one feature overrides your overall dissatisfaction with Skype. As long as most users feel the same way, Microsoft has nothing to worry about. Only if users started to abandon MS products in droves would MS change. Unfortunately, for many reasons, the users won't leave the loving embrace of M$.
- At last the portableapps version of skype was blocked sadly.Since I needed to contact someone on skype I was forced to go to the Windows 10 store to download this crap.It's unbelievable all cheating M$ is doing with the fake 5 star reviews for Skype in the store to try to trick people into believing someone on PC actually likes the new mobile phone style skype
- I will be leaving skype because they just forcibly discontinued version 7.4, I was logged in and chatting with a friend about some important visa application matters and about to make a phonecall to set-up a doctors visit for my throat infection I've had for over 2 weeks when it freezes then logs me out and says it wont let me log-in again till I install the 'newest version'.No. Stop. not only is that programmed obsolescence (which is a crime in several countries) but they just irked me really badly. So no more skype on this computer (PS I tried to install the new skype and it looks terrible all the toolbars are gone. it looks like it's a phone app! I'm on a desktop NO THANKYOU I want a desktop program not a phone app!
- One of the things I liked about skype over the years was the ability to select an inbound port that you could pass through your firewall, allowing a direct connection between yourself and whoever you were talking with.The video quality and latency were really great with this method. But it looks like the feature has been removed.
- I have weekly used Skype to connect with family in other countries in a group video call. My 80-year old parents are no longer able to figure out how to use Skype with all its new features and buttons. Today they were not able to turn their video on. It’s become increasingly complicated with each update. So sad and frustrated!
- Fed up with Skype updates every single day. Fed up with not showing who's online. The last update said it could not close apps automatically so I clicked Abort and the Skype didn't launch after that. So - bye, Skype, a very decent application before Micro$oft bought it.
- Suddenly, tonight, I can no longer access Skype. They want all my apps to be Microsoft, they want all my information, they have ignored that I have a paid plan with Skype. I either use all their apps and accept all the MS updates or I am out.Unacceptable.I now am looking for an alternative to Skype ASAP.
- Another great product ruined by Microsoft. Don't even know why they bought Skype for so much as they were developing Microsoft Teams. Just to buy a part of the market as their apps are so useless that no one would use them otherwise?
- If/when Microsoft proceeds with Skype 8 and terminates Classic Skype, I will leave Skype after many years of being onboard.
I tried version 8 and hated it immediately. All of the conveniences of Classic are gone. So I uninstalled and went back to Classic. Very happy there. - The recent so-called «update/upgrade» that I foolishly went ahead to install actually turned out to be more like a downgrade and I no longer have the original interface/options that used to be available. I'm sure I could single-handedly code/program a better messenger-program if I had enough time devoted to it but maybe I'll actually do that some day when I don't have to keep researching/studying so much legalese-nonsense due to the extremely dangerous police-state where you're now 100x more likely to be terrorised by government-officials or killed by a cop than you are to be violated by any so-called street-criminal.
- Skype recently forced all users into getting a microsoft account, which upon creation I immediately got a (failed to log in) notification. The trouble shooting rigamarole involves resetting the password with an e-mailed or phoned in validation code to reset the password. When I attempt to log in with the new password, I get the dreded failed to log in notification again. Apparently microsoft just arbitrarily suspended my newly created account. and there's no solution. Sorry to say, I must find some other alternative to skype.
- Moving away from Skype.Once you link a Skype account to your Microsoft account, you are forever, it seems, stuck with that. (as confirmed to me by Skype tech support at the end of a marathon session).I happened to link a backup Skype account and now can no longer get to the one I have been using for years.A colleague had the same experience so we are all moving to Google Hangouts.
- after getting warnings that skype version am using will not be supported, i foolishly upgraded( had forgotten this is now owned by microsoft). NOW I CANNOT SEND MY FRIENDS AUDIO FILES OVER 20MBS. this has not been the case before. i have decided to move and also contact my friends that we need to move. i had a serious lesson from microsoft edge that made me move from these guys and their ever crashing and cannot handle big files internet explore. these days i really wonder about MS products!!?!!. HIGHLY DISAPPOINTED. morever the new skype is just confusing. i donot have time for MS gimmicks when there are alternatives
- Well, since so many of you have already given my reasons (MS just ruined SKYPE), that is to say, made it more invasive, less user friendly, more of a memory hog and stripped 90 percent of the useful controls and applications from it, I just don't use SKYPE anymore.Now, I am just looking for free and stable alternatives. I mourn the loss of OOVOO, but that loss follows the trend of the world losing good things to be replaced by bad things.
- I've been using skype for about 3 or 4 years to conduct lessons remotely in Australia. The govt ruined the internet here and the connections aren't great, but skype seems to be particularly bad and often I've had to cancel lessons because it's unworkable.
But that's not the reason I am getting rid of it.
Recently I accidentally upgraded skype.
Boy was that a HUGE mistake!!
It wiped out all my contacts, history, and everything I needed to connect with students. If they call me, I can see only my video, and not theirs, and I need to see them!
But the worst thing was the log in. Skype completely stuffed that up. It wouldn't accept my username or my password. I had to change both of them. That meant that not only could I not find my students, they could no longer find me! Even my boss, at the company I work for, couldn't find me! It was and still is an ongoing disaster.
I have tried to contact support but given up. It appears there is no skype support at all. The option to contact them comes up but every time you click it it takes you to 'the community' and there is simply no way to speak to anyone that actually knows how to fix this.
After changing my account name and password, no i am getting prompts from microsoft every two hours asking me to change my password again.
Oh, and DO NOT get me started on the mess they made of the global upgrade to Win10 that they seem in total deny about. Bluescreen of death anyone? Now my PC crashes EVERY TIME it goes on sleep mode.
Yep, like a poster said before - Mircosoft - if it ain't broke, break it!! - The new version 8 for desktop is horrible. I am not able to have separate chat windows where I can participate in several chats at once. The custom hotkeys is something I relied upon heavily and that is missing in version 8. There are almost no options to customize the new version to make it work for each individual. I went back to Skype classic after my first phone call in version 8. While talking to a person I needed to pull up a previous chat from another person and then an active chat with another which I was unable to do because of no sepearate chat but worse was as soon as I got to the window where the chats were my call window was lost and I couldn't hang up the call. I had to ask the client to end the call because I could not figure out how to get the call window back with hang up icon. I used to have a custom hotkey combination for answering and hanging up. If version 8 is forced on desktop I will have to cancel my subscription.
- In answer to the question at the end of your article, it was Skype forcing version 8 on everyone. As of Sept 1, 2018, Microsoft will shut down all previous versions of Skype. The newest version has fewer options than earlier versions, plus, when I did give in and update, my group and my friends disappeared - I am supposing it is because I had to sign in with a microsoft account instead of my Skype account. I am jumping ship (and starting a new group) and I am looking for alternatives I like.I'm familiar with Slack, and may go with it, but am looking at other alternatives so I can see what is out there, and what I really want.
- Microsoft has ruined Skype. The latest version has no chat history function where you can choose not to save chats, or to save them for a limited period, or delete all saved chats. I tried to get an answer on the Skype site. It seems chats are saved for two years in the cloud (horrors!) and the only way to delete them is one by one. And probably that only deletes them on your device.
The whole Skype format has been changed so it's no longer user-friendly. MS plainly doesn't work by the motto 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it!'
Typical MS stupidity - 'improving away' the features that users really valued!
I uninstalled the upgrade and downloaded the classic version. But it has a warning saying it will be discontinued soon. If that happens, I will stop using Skype and try Google Hangouts.- I totally agree with you. Their motto seems to be 'If it ain't broke, break it.'
- I have been using Skype for over 12 years as a business tool. I take calls, provide support, transfer files, carry out online training. 2017/2018 has been a total nightmare. The new interface is pants. I come into the office each day to find it has closed and prompting for a login username and password. The notifications are useless. The number of times I have missed calls. And the fact it no longer log incoming landline call numbers is inexcusable. When I did contact MS, they pointed me to the 'classic' version. This looks like a rush to provide a fall back from the unworkable 'new' version. Some elements are better - log of incoming calls, but 'classic' is still riddled with 'issues'.Basically, in the past I was so happy to pay for a subscription, on line external number and a couple of other options, but as said previously, MS got hold of a perfectly viable, simple and outstanding software solution and totally trashed it. Is this their business model?Sad to say. I am here also to look for an alternative. Even to the point I searched out the original developers to see if they were looking to develop 'another' Skype from the ground up.Microsoft, Please, Please, Please - take us back to the day before you signed the deal to buy Skype!
- I quit using Skype shortly after they were acquired by Microsoft. It worked fine up until then and I used it along with others for small business video conference calls. After the acquisition, it became incredibly fragile. It would crash. It wouldn't allow continuation of calls if someone else left and tried to come back. For inexplicable reasons it would not allow one or more participants to even login. Incredible waste of time. We simply had to bag it. And, as the article points out, there are many, many other alternatives that work much better.
I just tried to use it again this afternoon to discuss a matter with a client in LA who wanted to use it. Amazing how bad the changes have made Skype. It is, as with all things Microsoft completely counterintuitive and the opposite of user friendly. I'm going to get the client to switch to either WebEx, maybe BlueJeans, or, heaven-forbid, Google hangouts. No matter what I'm done wasting time on Skype.
Big Point of Agreement: Microsoft clearly has zero interest in support. Attempts to find answers to questions result in a do-loop of amazingly worthless and irrelevant comments and half-baked instructions that don't work. Impossible to chat with someone. Impossible to get answers from MSFT. - Skype was pretty good before Microsoft took it over. Now they really ruined it. Constant forced updates. Changes my settings. Can't lock my settings. I've spent way too much time troubleshooting skype and I'm ready to dump it. So is my CEO and everybody else in the company.
- because it suggests my contacts to each other
- Since you ask, several factors have caused me to leave Skype. They were not really a problem until 2017. I clung on for ten months in hope that issues would be resolved - but the problems are mounting with each update. Not ONE of then has been resolved. In reverse chronological order, here they are :1) The last straw - I have to log in EVERY ***ing time I use Skype on my phone. This started after the last obligatory Android update. Try as I might, I can find no solution to the problem. Microsoft provides no tech support. They filter me to 'community support' (where I spend forty minutes reading the unanswered questions of other highly irate now ex-Skype users) but won't let me ask a question there - apparently, they require an email address to 'log in' (I'm already logged in to Skype). Since mine is already in Microsoft's database, they won't accept it , and suggest I join Outlook to get a new one. NFW.2) the latest irritation : since the update last month, my wife and I (separated by eight hours of time zone) never hear the other ring - she's on iOS. Just to get her attention, I wind up calling her mobile number and thrashing through my Skype credit, which defeats the object of us both being on VoIP.3) By late last year, it was apparent that Microsoft have begun to monetise our personal details and chat history - supplying it to) this is becoming a litany of unresolved grievance. As with the majority of my other Skype contacts, it will be easiest just to slip away and end the pain.Bye bye, Bill and Melinda.
- 1. The Win 10 Skype app consistently consumes 25% CPU (on a very powerful 8-core workstation). Say no more.2. The new user interface is much worse than the traditional.3. When closing the app, people can't get in touch - doesn't stay in the background.4. Notifications of missed calls is difficult to notice. I missed several messages and calls for this reason.I'm now actively looking for a replacement.
Too bad Microsoft bought a flourishing company and trashed their great software. - I HATE the latest Skype version. There is NO way to change font size or color, emoticons are much harder to use, etc. No more tools>Options, just a pared down Application Settings, that dont give you much control at all. I've had it. Once again MS 'improves' something to the point you can't use it anymore..
- Skype's user interface seems like something designed by a brand new startup for an alpha release, not a version 8 product from a company like Microsoft.- Can't change the ringtone, which is absolutely baffling. How does a design team working on a phone application not understand how manic folks are about personalizing ringtones?
- The default ringtone is awful
- The app starts ringing, then a few seconds later decides to show the interface, leaving me scrambling to figure out how to answer
- The UI doesn't pop up when coming back from a screen saver - I have to open it myself
- The interface itself is a mess. It's not intuitive how to answer a call, or start a call, or switch calls
- There's this huge details pane I can't close. I just want a list of contacts and calls that I can set to stay on top, but that absolutely logical option is nowhere to be found
- Good old-fashioned menus with words have been sacrificed for 'pretty' mystery meat icons. There's a bell, and a person in a box, and a phone, and the ellipses icon that the desktop world copied from the phone world without realizing the reason it's used in phone world is that phones don't have mice.
- Sort by: Time, Unread, Active. No way to show me just voicemails or missed calls.I've been using (and writing) software for over twenty years. I'm not an idiot. But the new Skype UX/UI is obviously the product of a bunch of kids given an assignment that was never reviewed by anyone outside the 'wouldn't this be cool?' group. Microsoft used to be a powerhouse of user testing and user interface design. Now it's fallen prey to the 'if you don't understand it, the problem is you' school of design.- I HATE the latest version update, am changing clients
- I am dying to hear which VOIP software for Windows and Mac OS others have found as replacement Skype.
Thanks for any assistance on escaping this madeningly useless pile of junk that has replaced a once awesome masterpiece of software.
- On 31 March 2018 I tried launching Skype 4.3 on my Linux machine and it would repeatedly simply shut down with no explanation of why. After some searching on the Web, I learned that Microsoft had forced clients earlier than 5.x into obsolescence. Since I had been using Skype mostly on an Android phone since mid-2017, I hadn't noticed Microsoft's heavy-handed move. Fortunately, I discovered a hack to allow the old Skype 4.3 software to continue working for a while longer on Linux, but it appears Microsoft intends to abandon Linux users eventually. While I'd love to move away from Skype, it's the most widely-used VoIP software and I can't force others to do the same. The solution may be to buy an Android tablet or a dedicated small-form-factor desktop machine that runs Android, specifically to be able to use Skype telephony and video conferencing at home. Microsoft appears to be working hard to alienate its users.
- If so, what frustrated you so much about Skype to make you start searching for alternatives?to answer this question. Sky cuts out in the middle of the meeting , some people can't even hear the others in the group. Sometimes the sound is like we are talking underwater. When it crashes. We can't just hang up and restart. You cannot see who is calling you before you answer the Skype call. It seems like the chat is being monitored and then they interfere. When you just talking about history, it is no threat to anybody.
- Skype = poor quality and the day it does not . it is no longer skype.
- they are too ignorant to realize some of us would simply like to choose the version of skype we like best based on interface and other personal settings. i am fine with more security updates but stop forcing your new stupid looks on me with emotes and fancy looking things that make skype look like a kids cartoon.
- You didn't mention the best, WeChat
It's better than WhatsApp - Have been a Skype user for more than a decade. But wanted to keep the 'Classic' Skype instead of the latest version that is FULL of problems. Tried to download version 7.40.1.151and each time I tried, MS switch to the latest version. Today, I found out that MS has blocked ALL downloads from all servers on the internet as of 27 February 2018.
MS has ruined a perfectly good system, for what???? - SKYPE JUST SUCKS!!! I've been a customer since they started and now I'm leaving! They took the voicemail messages away, no personalized greeting, can't easily connect a new caller, can't easily conference call, constantly the phone doesn't even ring goes directly to voicemail ( setting is on 30 seconds ) the whole new design sucks you can't tell a call you made from one you missed all the calls say missed which is just stupid! Voice messages disappear or you can't access messages left at all . gggrrrrr. why did they break a great system for this
videogame spin off!!! I despise Skype now and no customer service responds when you ask for help. I'm just praying we can find a comparable solution that doesn't cost $80.00 a month uuugghhh!!!- I have been a paying customer since 2006 and just found about they took away custom voice mail greetings. Wow! that's the last straw for me.
- I am just forced to leave Skype after it was blocked here in the Land of the Red Dragon, so I have to find an equivalent software. Thanks for the info!
- Hi, after many years using skype personally and in my work I'm finally at the end of the proverbial rope with Skype / Microsoft and want to change to another provider. I checked and decided to you use appear.in and have a question:Has anyone figured out how to add in landlines and cell phones to an appear.in conference this service??
It would be beyond perfection.
Any suggestions??
Thank you !!!! - Currently forced to use Skype 8 and it is by far and away the worst POS now run by MicroSUCKS!!! Provide feedback ? A waste of time as one’s comments are simply ignored and never receive a response back. Make suggestions ? IGNORED !Google’s Hangouts is also a poorly designed format. So now I’m searching for a decent Messenger to use. VooDoo use to be FREE, but now I nelieve they charge a subscription fee and leary of using Viber as a possible Soviet messenger ???
- New Skype for desktop: the 'improved' version (8?) is a disaster. When my contacts started to migrate--which took a couple of days, incidentally--the first thing at the top of my new contacts list was a collection of 'people you may know,' which turned out to be the contacts of the people (all three of them) on my Skype contact list! I can only guess that *my* contacts would also show up at the top of the contacts lists of *my* contacts. WTF????? Invade your users' privacy much? The only way to get rid of these contacts--which can't be moved from the top of the list, by the way, so users have to scroll down through their contacts list to get to their *actual contacts*--is to BLOCK them on Skype. I had to individually select and block several dozen of my aunts, uncles, cousins, wife's co-workers, and son's gaming buddies.
User controls are sparse and not intuitive. Duplicate lists of recent calls, one of which cannot be deleted, because the DELETE button doesn't do anything. No HELP menu or FAQ. This is not a new deficiency for Skype, but the accumulated technical advice in the Skype Community pages has not caught up with the new version, so any 'help' you find is not applicable to what you're looking at on your monitor screen. Useless. Multicolored pastel-highlighted phone icons next to your contacts and recent calls that ARE NOT EXPLAINED ANYWHERE. Deleting or editing a contact is a mystifying, multi-click chore. Aaaaannd soooo oooooonnnnnn.
After a few days of this, I 'backwards-updated' to v7 when it appeared as an optional update with Windows Updates, and presto, all was right with the world.until I discovered that the older version does not support connecting through a proxy server without a complex, tedious and patience-trying setup procedure.
At that point, I uninstalled Skype and sacrificed my $10 account balance, and will never use Skype again. Nice work, Microsoft. Thanks a lot for 'fixing' something that wasn't broken. - Can anyone suggest a low-cost paid or free VOIP service which will allow me to own a dedicated phone number plus a voice mailbox with personal voice greeting? I am a US citizen but I spend a lot of time overseas for my job, and I want to maintain a US number (preferably using my own Oregon area code). For 5+ years I was happy to pay Skype $6.00/mo for a number plus a voice mailbox, but then Skype eliminated the ability to create a personalized voice greeting in the voice mailbox. The new Skype is less user-friendly than the old Skype, plus we lost our personal greeting in our voice mailbox.
Grateful for any recommendations.
David- I'm in the same boat. Going to look at Google phone #.
- Since Skype moved to Microsoft they are just trying to found ways how to get more money from the user. i had plan in the past that was running long time which suddenly canceled by them without any reason. it will be hard to fight with them ,the only way to do is to vote with our money. It is about time for changing to other thing.
- The old Skype was bad, but functional. The new Skype is horrible. Conferencing is unpredictable and you usually need to turn cameras off. I tried to hold a conference call today of course I could not add in a cell phone or landline like I used to be able to. I really LOVE the functionality of appear.in -- not software to download and you feel like you in the room with the person. Makes meetings run super smoothly. If only I can figure out how to add in landlines and cell phones to an appear.in conference this service would be beyond perfection. Any suggestions??
- The band width need is too much and as a result really poor quality connections plus it breaks up like your in a bad reception area. The adverts are just way over the top and all the adverts will be using up huge band width so I really want something that services me and is not a advertising revenue generating platform!!
- I have been a fan of Skype since it first came out. Then MS took over and its been downhill ever since. Every upgrade, basically a downgrade, thanks to the genii at MS. They have no idea what they're doing. Too busy trying to figure out how to milk users of money.
- What frustrated me about Skype is the brand new Microsoft Skype!! The old Skype was superb. The new on is ..
with new Skype: no contacts, no account balance, very poor information on screen.
No means of entering new contacts without some extrordinairy procedure- I have had it with Skype. To be able to call someone on my list who has more than one number involved too many clicks (the number does not show when you call). And I could not even edit.
Horrible user interface. As soon as my last $2 runs out that is it.
- I have my passwords written down so I know what they are! but the New SKYPE says no get a new account and loose everything on the old account.
- Skype new version..
- cannot see when my contacts are on line, so you are 'shooting in the dark' when trying to
contact someone. Chances are that you will have 'called' your required contact a least a
dozen times, no response (is it ringing ?? - are they on line?)
- There is no 'ringing' sound when I invite my contact/s to a video conversation, so you are
ever sure if it is ringing at the other end or not.
- 'settings' is difficult to find
All in all.a very very frustrating experience. Their previous version was user friendly, easy to use.
- It was going well until they 'fixed it' - 1. Skype's prior white background and understandable tabs and dropdown menus was replaced with a black background and the need for telepathic abilities beyond a techi's imagination. First insult.
2. Voice/cam was free until the last upgrade. They must not be familiar with S.N.A.F.U., F.U.B.A.R. or K.I.S.S. and, particularly, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it! Second insult.Bye-bye, Skype. - All of a sudden, as a result of the latest change, Skype asked me to verify my age and blocked my account until I provided a credit card for proof. I thought I was being hacked as Skype already had my credit card on file for auto refill. Too much time spent with customer support with no results. I'm OUT!
- I still have to use Skype because they are the only ones that let me purchase a US phone number so people can call me on a land line to a local number but I still get the call by internet to Peru. Looking for something better because now people calling me are only getting Voice message or being disconnected. is there no other provider of US phone numbers out there?
- The latest update of Skype was the last drop for me. Messed up user status, hidden or outright deleted controls, no possibility to minimize the app window to show only contacts and much more. Similar to recent changes in MS Office, redesign is unnecessary, self-serving, confusing to long-time users, and the technical quality of underlying functionality is not improved. MS has done their producs in, so I'm done with MS.
- Since Microsoft go involved, Skype has gone down the pipes. I deleted Skype from all my devices. I like several of the alternative solutions presented in this article. Skype is a thing of the past now for me.
- Spot on, exactly what I have seen. Skype was originally a superb useful program, and since Microsoft took over they made it more and more useless and buggy for many many reasons.As others say if it aint broke don't fix it. Well Microsoft ignored that one in delux style. They have ruined pretty much every single feature over time.Rant on ;)Myself and friends have used it pretty much everyday for around 13-14 years and it's gone from weakness to weakness.1) They changed the program interface so you could no longer have a really small neat desktop window, they made it waste window space more and more with wasted space, large icon areas, or stupid column limits (although recent times they have allowed some correction to this.2) Then they changed how files are sent in some of the current versions, so now you have to choose what the file type is rather then just send any file and it recognises it, they changed how they show the files in the chat all worse changes.
- other versions you cannot choose a download location and have to go look in some obscure appdata folder to find files!3) For around a year or so, even with different PCs when a friend calls me the first call is garbled sound, and we have to disconnect and call again, every single first call. Great comms program , this is pretty fundamental.4) Sometime ago for me it lost the microphone even though other programs work perfectly with it. Even Windows could configure and use the microphone fine.
Again finding a mic that the OS uses is pretty fundamental.MY friend has this now he can make one or two calls then Skype says can't find the mic - it takes a reboot to get it back quite annoying if you call more than once or twice a day.5) They released several versions at once all the new ones are so simplified and so utterly useless. with hardly any options. They offer 'classic' skype (you need to go to the download page and use a different browser then Edge to see the alternatives - there's a few ;) to get around this new version that many people strongly dislike.6) It used to allow great simple file sending, zips, txt pictures etc easily and simply, now it's annoying, the file does not appear in the chat until it's been 'uploaded' to MS somewhere, so often the file scrolls off the chat window and unless the person points out the file was sent a while back you may miss it. Nuts.7) The newer skype versions a re utterly useless no options to set download location, few options. Basically the original skype was honed to a good product, then Microsoft have come along and systematically ruined all the good points.MS seems to have no clue, why try to improve something that was pretty much perfect for the use it was designed for originally. Same as Windows 10 the Creators update that brought back many old bugs for me and friends. In fact Windows 10 shows you exactly how they think and work these days, all the good useful settings and options are hidden, you get a pretty and useless bland interface until you click on 'advanced' or something only then do you get sent to the old Windows settings all hidden underneath. They can't use the new interface, they have to access the old one.Windows 7 was a great OS, even finally used 3D GPU effects , then with Windows 8 they blew all that away and gave us bland two colour dialogues? Then tried to fix it with Windows 10 which is partly a front end over Windows 7 underlying features and controls.I am sure there are dozens of other new reasons why Skype is now more useless then it ever was, but I have already wasted hours fixing it, trying new versions. Time for something new.
- Long time Skype user. But recently on my iPhone there appeared an intrusive and very annoying thing called Cortana. It can't be removed from the Skype app, so I deleted the app from my iPhone.
- We have used Skype for many years and found it a great service provider for skype to skype users and also to normal land line numbers, sorry to say something has gone wrong and overcompicated what was a very easy system
- I agree totally with Gareth. Skype has been my phone app for many years, but MS has really messed it up. Now it is hardly even usable. And, MS provides NO support, it seems, to try to resolve problems.
- Microsoft Windows along with Skype are just spyware in my opinion. Got to be better Operating Systems and Skype alternatives out there. When are goverments going to clamp down on these rogue Internet companies who have no respect what-so-ever for user's privacy?
- No matter what they say, somewhere in the sign up or first sign-in, Skype insists on your mobile number or you can't set up or use your account.
- I am in search for another application with the same features than Skype, but one who works. If anyone knows something that works, to video call for free, I use quiet often to talk with my family in Europe
Thanks - Until someone comes with idea of not needing additional device to login or sending e-mail with link (how do you do this for old person who is not tech savvy to understand what's going on?) as bad as Skype could be sometimes, I do not see moving to those apps anytime soon. All those alternatives approach is modern but limiting access by some people (older age group). Very discouraging. I understand security (two factor, two devices), but that is not solving some other issues and actually it adds at least one more. Do they really expect someone who used traditional phone wuth dial to understand why they need phone to login using computer or communicate via e-mail in order to start chat? Really? You login and dial in one app - why can't we make it simple again? Security? Well then work harder - not everything is national security.
- Skype stopped working on my old vista laptop, so, annoyed, I bought another - brand new, top of the range. It doesn't work on that running windows 10 so there is really no hope. Pathetic.
- In their latest update, skype removed the option to automically answer all calls from contact list only. It's either allow everyone now, or no one. That renders it utterly useless for me. I knew Microsoft would eventually ruin it when they bought it, but it did take longer than I thought.
- Nothing but issues when Microsoft took over. Every time i sign in there is an issue with my shitty Microsoft account that i don't want in the first place.
- I have no problem with Skype. It works well enough, and my granddaughter knows how to work it. I just want to delete an email account on Outlook. Microsoft won't let me do that unless I get rid of Skype, whereupon they will keep my prepayments. The 'Talk with an expert' function on their site does not work (bad sign), so that is what I am going to have to do.
- Used to use all the time .now (after latest update) cannot get to work on any of our desktops or laptops (Windows 7, 8.1, 10) so have finally uninstalled from all. Let's face it, Microsoft are self-serving and completely incompetent. We now use alternatives to MS products on principle wherever possible.
- The latest version of Skype doesn't allow for phone numbers to be added.it's confusing and very frustrating to use. I am desperate to find some way of communicating with my family abroad.Skype have now made it impossible.off to search for better!
- Yes me too, Skype has be ruined , my Mum is 85 and could us Skype before this awful update, i have no clue how to use it any more so my dear mum who is 1000 of miles away is, very confused! Microsoft you are bastards !
- Skype just stopped working on my desktop running Windows 7.
- I un-installed Skype. is useless for me now. I will find alternative or forget abt messaging and stick to the phone.
- Microsoft keeps trying to make me download their products or use their systems. Will not allow me to reset password using my email address.
Disgusted, frustrated and unwilling to use a product that tries to force compliance to a specific corporate. - Skype is crap and no quality calls with any VPN. We are moving to Linux based only softwares like Red Hat and Ubuntu and Linux Mint. We do not using at all Microsoft as well.
Microsoft loves Linux Google it. - I have skype credit on my home computer and when I looked on my android tablet it said I had zero. I have emailed skype numerous times and they don't reply so now getting really annoyed . I think skype is good don't get me wrong but when they don't reply to emails that really annoys me, so now I am looking for something as good as skype. Can anyone make any suggestions. I truly agree since Microsoft have taken over skype they have ruined it. I would like to know how to get back the money I have with them.
- I have a paid phone number. 2 weeks ago, Skype stopped calling out. Since Skype is owned by MS, you cannot get live customer service, the virtual chat is dismal, there is a loop from the support page and there are millions of blogs on community with limited filter tools. Sorting thru this is a slap in the face. (although good data to analyze social interactions). You cannot go back in versions because of the need to access MS servers. And MS solutions are like Did you turn your PC on? Really MS, do we have to? Oh and now you have to pay extra for SMS and other stuff. But since they have the monopoly. Watch it; soon, you'll have miscellaneous fees for using it. Micro$$$$$oft alright.
I tried Slack and I love it. I will try Viber next to compare. Thanks for your article! - Microsoft have destroyed a great app. I can't see how much a call is costing and the hole layout is shocking, I don't know who designed this but they must live in a box far far away from the real world, this is the finish I will be looking for another app.
- I have read many of the comments on the new Skype since Microsoft took over and I agree with them all. Microsoft have ruined what was a great app. Skype is dead to me.
- Used skype happily for years, but once it was under microsoft auspices, problems about. My account got hacked. There is absolutely no way of contacting a human for trouble-shooting. And via the bot-customer service, I got into a kafka-esque circular conversation multiple times, because I was trying to retrieve the account because it had contacts and phone numbers I didn't have anywhere else, AND because I had unused credit on the account. I was not able to reach a human to find any way to access my old account. All I could do was create a new account. I did it. Now I wanted to make a call that had charges, so wanted to pay for credit on paypal. It declined the payment multiple times (even though I used paypal for multiple other things today, no problem, funds are there) leaving the only option to input info for a new credit card. But Idon't trust skype at all to give it credit card information.
So I'm at a total dead end with skype. Hate it. Don't see another alternative for being able to actually call another phone number (like this group conference call I wanted to be on). Other platforms are fine for calling other people you know who already are on other platforms, i.e., not having to input a new phone number (viber, facetime, etc. all those are good for this). - I have used Skype from the beginning, but, I can not tolerate it anymore. An almost daily update for Android, with each update becoming more confusing to operate. Clunky confusing interface. Call connection fee?????Microsoft have truly destroyed a fine app.
- I just typed a lengthy reply about Skype and MicroSUCKS, but didn't see my comments posted. I guess my coments are NOT politically correct in today's media world !
- Skype has recently changed their format and like MicroSUCKS, it SUCKS BIG TIME with no choices to revert back to a prior version that was good and very functional. Ever since MucroSucks bought out Skype, they've managed to screw-up everthing they put their hands on. Another reason why I'm glad I dumped my old Windows-based PC and got an Apple desktop !!!
- There is no real aletrnative for Skype unfortunatelly :(
Hangouts: Google discards the privacy, they watch each keystroke when using they 'free' apps
Viber: needs phone number for registration -> no anonimity
ooVoo: doesn't have app for wp8, wp10, windows metro (tablets)
So. Microsoft remote desktop connection client for mac 2.0.1. is there a real alternative, which works on all windows platforms, is reliable, doesn't need personal identification and isn't analyzing our personal life through our communications and selling it to their business partners? I would be really interested in. - I have to abandon skype because my mother's computer system is no longer supported by skype, they (Microsoft) abandon old people and leave them isolated and alone, not being able to speak with and see their loved ones.
- I'm changing from Skype because it freezes and then crashed my laptop. Moving to Viber.
- Skype sound quality is so bad that I cannot make a call. I've done all the suggested tricks and checks - latest versions, old versions, updating audio devices, you name it, all to no avail. Now angry enough to just walk away.
- WOW! Every alternative I've explored makes Skype seem terrible. TERRIBLE! It's like choosing to use 2007 technology. This used to be the best. It's appalling.
I use long video calls with - peripheral functions - for work.Zoom, Google Hangouts, Line, Viber, Whatsapp, etc. (I want to try ooVoo)
Why is Skype still the standard? I'm pushing my clients toward other apps because it's so frustrating to use Skype. I'm always disappointed when a client wants to keep using Skype. :-P - I was a happy Skype user from 2005. I used Skype A LOT to call regular phone numbers, which made me a paying customer and I was happy to pay for that service.Recently the Skype quality is clearly less than the FaceTime quality. In addition, Skype has started to force me to upgrade to newer versions. With every new version I have a hard time finding my way around. Even more, I often don't notice it if others are calling me or texting me when using Skype. So I was already getting more and more frustrated with Skype.Then Skype (or Microsoft ?) made a change that pushed me over the edge. They are now demanding (!) that I enter my date of birth. I'm sorry Skype (and Microsoft), but my date of birth is one of the security questions with my bank and with the security breaches that we see lately, security breaches that don't seem to stop, that's something you and many other companies are not going to get.(To those who didn't realize this, and if you're just like me uncomfortable with that, give it a thought to change your date of birth on most websites to something close to your real date of birth but nevertheless different.)Anyway, and in short, while having been a paying customer for more than a decade, Skype is essentially pushing me out the door.
- I keep money Skype credit but didn't use Skype for a while. I do that a lot--lots of use and then none for a while. Before, I could always just log in to Skype and my credit would be reactivated. There was no timeline. Last time it happened, all my credit was gone. I guess they just decided they could keep it.Just as bad is that these people don't want to provide any customer service. You can't call or e-mail anyone. You can only go to community questions and try to find an answer. Mostly I found people as fed up as I was. Microsoft has money to fund customer service, but chooses not to do so. Will be getting rid of Skype.
- I’ve had a Skype account for decades having lived in many different places overseas (I’m fro UK my husband is American). It has served us well keeping in touch with family and friends worldwide. Having just returned recently from a trip home have now discovered that I can’t use Skype as I always have to call UK. I HAVE A MOTHER IN HER NINETIES WITH A BASIC CELL PHONE No fancy iPhone so can’t use iPhone to iPhone with her and my phone bill has rocketed calling her. I was totally happy with previous Skype for the purpose it served calling friends and family - now it’s useless for me. I’m better off paying overseas phone charges,
- Yep, Microsucks ruined Skype. Had a Skype account with one email, a MIcrosucks account (for OneNote) with another email. Tried to add credit several times using my Skype account. All rejected. But unbeknownst to me, Skype opened a second Skype account using the email for the Microsucks/OneNote account and added the rejected credits to the new account. Only months later did I find out about that new Skype account and that the rejected attempts were actually accepted when I wasn't looking and put into a Skype account I never knew existed. Too late to get a refund, they say, but I can gift those credits to my real Skype account. Now I can't leave Skype because I had a couple years worth of credits. What an effing racket.
- Without any particular reason Skype stopped working. The app claimed it couldn't connect to the Internet. After reinstalling and failing to obtain customer support or any advice about what could be wrong, the only suggestion I didn't try was to unify my Microsoft account with my Skype account. So I did that, and it still didn't work. Further attempts to get any sort of support failed, so I stopped my subscriptions.
- No longer custom greetings on Skype tel number for business. unilateral decision and barely anyone was alerted user-wise.
And as with ALL MSFT barely any customer support. and then you need to live in Mumbai to understand what they are saying.Replacing as soon as possible. - Microsoft does not recognize my password, just my user name. It makes me create and test a new password every time I sign in to both Skype and X-Box. It is so irritating and time-consuming that I just don't want to use these programs anymore.
- Can't get text messages from non-Skype users. Bought a Skype phone understanding that other locals can call me for free. That's great but I didn't know I would have to pay to call non Skype mobile and land lines. So to use my mobile phone with a Skype number I have to 1) buy the Skype number, 2) pay a monthly Skype plan and pay my normal mobile phone bill. Yet no incoming texts!! The only reason I got the Skype number was for travelling abroad. Now non-Skype folks can even message to my Skype number. VERY disappointed.
- But none of these listed can take the place of Skype as none offer a personal phone number for people on their cell or landline to call you.
- Skype worked fine. Then it became Microsoft, update after update without any improvements and now after the latest and forced on you update because to 'old' version doesn't work anymore, the 'new' and probably more easily tapped version does not work at all or if it finally more or less works, it keeps completely silent on incoming calls. However it gives a missed call warning. Besides that, it's again impossible to turn off updates.I am done with it, microsoft has killed it.
- YES! I'm so done with it now that microbsoft is trying to force themselves into my devices by not allowing me what I have been doing on desktop or on my phone for a very long time without installing new plugins to destroy them!
- Skype used to be fine before Microsoft. Now it's the most aggravating piece of crap. I HATE Skype. Worst thing is the Skype engineers probably don't even use it, because if they did -or at least listened to critics- they might do something about it. Do NOT waste your time with this garbage app, on the web, your mobile device, or anywhere!
- The new 'Discover' feature in the iOS version of Skype was until today just a highly annoying but ignorable piece of UI eyesore (opposite of eye candy) . I don't know these people it's suggesting and am frustrated I can't remove them or turn it off. However, today they suggested I connect with my very dear, recently deceased wife, and my father who passed away in 2015. In Skype it is not possible to remove/block a Suggested Contact.App designers frequently add 'features' like this as a direct attempt to manipulate users into behavior that some evil marketing anaylist has determined will increase revenue. But even the most egregious of offenders, LinkedIn and Facebook, allow you to veto and banish specific entries.M$ support originally agreed to have someone call me, but an email said they will not call and I need to remove thr dead people's accounts. No, if there's going to be a Discover section it needs some configuration so it can be disabled and the ability to permanently remove some people from the suggestions.The latest iPhone update also broke (or deliberately eliminated) a lot of contact management functionality but that's for another time.
. - Skype continually crashes, notifications don't pop up, it hides itself and you can't open it unless you restart it or get a msg, console just keeps getting worse.It's another Microsoft disaster. This is what happens when you outsource your IT to people that don't give a rats about quality.
- It was wonderful before Microsoft took it over.
Now every time I use it - my account gets suspended and the call gets dropped.
I - Skype just stopped working for a month now in ME country. I cannot use it even though I pay for an unlimited world subscription. I don't know why, but Skype has become a pile of garbage. The 'updated' interface is a joke, and other alternate programs work fine still.
- frustrated to be unable to access my account. Forgot password and verification process doesnt function for me.and most annoyingly very hard to find appropriate advise for solutions online. Only the standard Skype procedures come up in search results.and they dont help. I have credit that i will lose because i cant access my account..
- My daughter lives in South-Korea so we talk together at least once a week and always have problems with Skype. First you have to update and then if you get through the connection is bad and becomes worse and worse depending on how long you talk. The video is always pixelated and the speech broken.
In Asia majority of people on the internet use Kakaotalk for communication and it works fine except I can't get the video to work. So we are looking for alternative to Skype.
It would be nice if those who comment tell us if they have tried any other program that is mentioned here and how it is. - All the problems with Skype started with Microsoft takeover from Skype - just as usual with MS Products. Now function in standard reliable XP laptop also has stopped working, installation is not successful. Not any support what so ever - just as we have hade it since 22nd of May 1990. I have been a quality professional full time for 28 years, and an Electronics IT Systems Designer before that. 2 weeks ago Skype could not find my good camera on my Win 8.1. Even on MacPro Microsoft has increased the problem frequency on Skype. We need a new international video-voice communicator product to take over the world market. On Win 7 and Vista laptops Skype barely works still.
- Its become unusable everywhere. The Windows version is painful to control and get to work consistently with video and audio. Never works the same twice in a row. The Android version is completely unusable and had to delete it. Just awful
- I am launching a new business, for which recorded calls are a key requirement.Skype is unreliable, in that a two-way conversation is not a given.
- Appear.in seems to be the easiest conf calling app to use at least for now. Skype is getting more and more complicated to use. Yes, I'm abandoning skype.
- Skype's recent change linking my Skype account with my Outlook account made it so that Skype no longer works with the 'freetalk' Skypephone I've been using for years in order to avoid having to use a Skype app on my computer. With the Skypephone, it was a good alternative to having a landline phone but, since they have discontinues support for that, I really don't have any use for Skype any longer.
- absolutely zero support. just get sent to hundreds of non helpful 'support' pages.
- I had not the opportunity tio use my password for awhile, a computer glitch made it necessary and I had to get another password. I set this up YEARS AGO with another phone number and another--now dead--email.
The security protocol asked questions only I could answer, and asked specifically for other users friended on my account. Despite all that--nope would not let me update the password.So what was this really about? My Skype address was enigmaman54. What they wanted was to have me use my real name, instead of a moniker.
Something I guarantee they will regret.not a person to pycc off.. - I don't see this mentioned, but the latest update just took away your ability to have a personal message when it goes to voicemail - I use this for business and that is not acceptable to have their stock message without my name or anything and I would think it might be a no go for others. In addition it looks like I am unable to do the latest update on my laptop and if I can't, my skype program will be unsupported. I was a loyal skype user for years but it looks like break up time!!
- What frustrates me the most about Skype is that once you pay for a subscription, you're locked in NO MATTER WHAT! Link it to the wrong account? Sucks to be you. You have to buy a new one. Need to change number because you changed companies? Sucks to be you again. You have to buy a new one. I went from one area code to another and was stuck with 2 subscriptions because the number was 'rented' from a local company and there was nothing I could do about it. So now I have 2 skype numbers when I only need one. Sucks to be me I guess.
- Between you and google, you are driving me nuts! I am in Hong Kong! I tell someone I am going to call them and open SKYPE to make the call and my password doesn't work???? I go through all of the BS to satisfy you and quickly find I am on the line 30 minutes to an hour with it! Next day same scenario. second verse! this is ridiculous! I don't know how this happens or what the problem is???Unfortunately, I am a very loyal customer. However this has been a problem too many times!
- Never been a MS lover but the recent 'upgrades' to skype for windows 10 has completely turned me off skype.
As expected when the monster bought out a semi viable skype, they screwed it up completely.
Retrospective the best of suzanne vega rar download. Now, I can't even add a phone no to my contact list nor edit an existing contact. Some BS about needing to add them as an invitation to the now stupidly useless communication tool.
Their help system refers to procedures that are not available on my setup.
TOTAL frustration, wasted an hour trying to add a number or edit an existing number.
I'm off this heap of sh*t, where do I go next for a functional voice to landline over internet?- Same is happening to me. I am so fed up.
- Me too! I hate that they mix up all email & phone contacts and got rid off my old Skype contacts where they seemed to overlap with phone contacts. But when in the world will I be skyping with my house painter or with the post office! And now they've added some stupid Highlights and other crap, but there is no way of accessing old contacts. The sad thing is that I use to talk to my parents and it's not going to be easy to get them to try something new .
- It no longer works on my android do to an update, and I don't feel like I should have to buy a new phone for it to work.
- The frustration started with Microsoft buying out Skype and then making us play by their rules, which means you WILL spend more money than you would have when Skype was a standalone company.
- I read the first 30 comments or so and didn't see any one else mention the problem I consistently have with Skype so maybe it is uncommon but I've been experiencing this for 3 years now. Skype does not speak to IVR systems well. I live overseas but have to call numbers in the US a lot and so often I have to make a selection from a menu or input a security code or account number and what I type in is not what Skype sends through. For example, if I'm dialing into a conference call and my participant code is 2543 I'm told that I entered the wrong code. Many of these systems will read back what they think I entered and say 'the code you entered, 2254443, is not valid' even though I can see on my screen in the Skype app that I clearly entered 2543. If I try enough times it will eventually send the number I typed but there have been many times when I had to call in 20-30 times to get it to go through.This makes any call to a bank or government number a nightmare. It has also caused me to constantly be up to 15 minutes late to important conference calls for work. The last company I worked for implemented Skype for business which uses a separate app and it never had this problem so its clearly something they know how to fix if they cared to.
- Since the (forced) update, my Skype credit is ignored by Skype on the iphone, and the app keeps asking me to add Skype credit (which I have aplenty). But it works fine on the computer. Skype/Microsoft support impossible to reach. Maddening.
I used Skype for years. I don't want to anymore.- Right -- no support at all. And lots and lots of ridiculous problems that weren't there before.
- I am tired of the CONSTANT useless updates that are making the system less and less reliable. I cannot have good, instant communications with my team when Skype is down which lately has been way too often. Other reasons include dropped calls, distorted calls, the lack of choice in my status, etc. Microsoft has yet again ruined what was once a good thing.
- I am looking into other programs than Skype - I thought it was just my internet but it seems that other people here is having the same problems as I - i.e., blurry screen and braking up audio and video and really not good as I am teaching online and it is very difficult if things are not working.
one question -- what do you feel is best for iMac ? - I am looking for an alternative to skype because the last couple of versions have changed things I liked about skype such as:- My contact list being on the left side all the time.
- Being able to select my online status and not having it done for me.
- Being able to get answers to questions from skype.
- Video sessions not being dropped so often. - Skype keeps flagging every username I make as spam and it is unrecoverable every time. I get max 2 weeks with each one before it says I am sending spammy emails, when I haven't sent any.
- This looks like your computer has been hacked and is used to send spam to other people.
- Allegedly my account has been abused for spam and other illegal things not described by M$ and therefore has been suspended. To re-activate my account they want my phone number. I know from a lot of other people this happened to them too. The true reason behind this is that M$ wants our real data. They are spying on our everyday lives together with the NSA (who has an office at Redmonds). I do not trust M$ further than I could ever throw a piano.
- The 'new and improved Skype' is useless. It simply does not work reliably. The interface is atrocious, but worse, the performance has deteriorated to the point that Skype is in fact useless. Calls don't connect properly, or connect with no video or a static video snapshot in blurry vision. Skype used to be literally the best in the world, but now I cannot achieve anywhere near the same call quality. Hopeless. Have a look at the Google Play Store - the first 20 bits of feedback are all complaints! Microsoft keep saying 'we're listening' but they are not. They are about to have another Nokia episode - I'm leaving Skype, and so will millions of others. Sell your Microsoft shares today!
- I agree!
- THE 'CONSTANT' UPDATES are wearing thin. And the very privacy concerns I had you suggest Google? Microsoft and Facebook as replacements? I guess I don't need any of them.
- I am aware this article is a little out of date but I think it links to some of the more recent Skype developments e.g. Skype stopping SkypeTV. There are now a lot of 'non tech-savvy' user left unable to video call. I find it interesting that TV based video call services are not factored into this equation; services like Telly Bean or Sentab TV. Both are app based but both also work on TV too.
- Skype lost some nice features with its latest iOS update. I can no longer change my status nor find information on other users, like birthdays and # of contacts. The new interface is awful; apparently they're trying to emulate social media sites instead of going with their tried and true look. The crowning touch for me is that after functioning flawlessly on my MacBook Air with 10.11.6 (no recent updates to it or to Skype), Skype now crashes within two seconds of starting up. After a couple of re-boots to my Mac and re-starts of Skype, it will sometimes run but crashes after a few minutes of inactivity.
- Killing off the Skype phone, without notice or warning and costing millions in equipment, wasted time and business loss, I for one will not buy ANYTHING from microsoft in future, Skype is gone for thousands of once loyal customers.
- I will be leaving Skype for definite! The reason is for the last few years I having been using a Skype dual/voip phone. Since Skype have now unsupported these phones I will find an alternative. I have no idea why Skype have done this as these phone systems are not cheap!!! Also took some time to set up.
If anyone knows why Skype have done this I would be interested to hear.- I went through hell when my trusted Skype phone suddenly quit working. After many many tries I finally deleted Skype from my computer while I still have $40+ credit. Seeing that a lot of internet users have seemlier problems with the hijacked Skype I actually feel some relief. Cannot imagine such a technology power house like Microsoft can foul up things so badly. I realized that it is TECHNOLOGY IMPERIALISM. Microsoft is so powerful they can do anything to us commoners with impunity. I am moving to another country.
- Moving away from Skype because of being forced to tie it to a Microsoft account, which gives Microsoft the ability to connect recordings of Skype conversations with other personal information, such as one's profile and connections on LinkedIn.
- The quality of Skype calls is very variable, and often you can hear yourself talking or these is a background noise that amplifies over time to drown out the person speaking. The worst offence recently has been the unsolicited, automatic and irreversible merging of contacts from Outlook and Skype. I like to keep work and non-work contacts separate in different Skype accounts, but now I have a contact list containing my work colleagues, my friends, my girlfriend, my ex-wife and my relatives. What a mess Microsoft has made, and the worst part is you can't get rid of the Skype contacts. 'Remove contact' doesn't completely remove them, neither does 'block contact'. What kind of madness is behind that warped thinking? Time to move on to another video chat app.
- Skype updated and I lost all of my contacts and now because I don't have outlook I cannot use it. Definitely gone down hill since Microsoft took it over. I will be looking for something else and I'm sick and tired of being channelled to somewhere I don't want to go.
- I have been very happy with the service provided by Skype until Microsoft took it over and now I am continually channelled to a microsoft account to make changes to my Skype. I do not like the current Skype operated by Microsoft.
- Constant updates you have to take. Bye skype.
- Skype will be abandoned for something yet to be determined.
The UI, the bugs are making it useless.
The final straw though, is the recent set of recurring partial or complete outages. - Skype should be renamed to not responding. The last 2months it has gotten so bad that if it connects, it continually hangs and drops.
- I am looking into dumping Skype because themselves and Microsoft have dumped on me. Without any prior warning my Nokia 635 Windows phone no longer connects to Skype because it uses Windows 8.1. As of 17 July I have just discovered, this is no longer supported by updates, unless you have the 1 gb version of my phone when you can upgrade to Windows 10. Unfortunately mine is the 600 mb model, Microsoft advice is risible, buy a new phone, as if! I only bought this in October 2014 so it was €210 waste of money to be now chucked in the bin. I only use it for calls within the country, free on any network, and calls back to the UK using Skype, if it was a car it would be extremely low mileage. Microsoft get more and more arrogant and domineering, though I suppose the same could be said of a number of big American software companies. Anyway, to say I am extremely angry is to say the least.
- I have a Skype internet phone but it is useless now as I can't sign in, it keeps saying it is off line, I can manage to get it online but in only a few seconds it goes offline. My laptop still works with Skype but I need a proper internet phone for some calls.
- I want my money back from Skype for having made my Skype dual phones useless !
Read
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/skype/forum/skype_accountms-skype_number/my-skype-dual-phone-ata-is-not-receiving-calls-why/e449db3c-4b63-4e81-8d14-3dac0626713b
My previous post
I have 2 Skype phones RTX4088 (Firmware version 172) on individual bases , I cannot login o Skype even after pairing again with the main base and resetting both handsets settings and inputting the password again.
At best only 1 handset can sign in for about a minute or so then it goes offline and retries to sign in again and repeats this endlessly until the rechargeable batteries run almost flat while sitting on the charger base.
I've also changed to a new main Skype base re-paired
Weeks ago (about 3 ) both sets were working fine and running on an NBN line Tier-1 12 MBps provided by AusBBS .
The new skype android app is the biggest crap ever, no where you can find any settings to log in or out, no status showing anywhere no ringtones settings, .bring back a normal app that I can configure.
prince of wales Mill Park 3082 Melbourne Victoria Australia.
You claim that the problem is resolved but it isn't for me, read
https://heartbeat.skype.com/2017/07/skype_connectivity_problems_2.html
I want it fixed now!- I actually managed to speak to someone from Skype and was told that Skype no longer supports Skype phones.
- I had five Philips VOIP841 handsets that used a Skype Base unit (I also had two spare base units).I also had 2 Skype Belkin Wifi Phones. All functioned perfectly for years using SKYPEIN service which I had PAID for for more than 10 years (Way before MS took over Skype).
ALL my investment in Skype was made useless on 1 July 2017 (I discovered it on 7 July).So hundreds of dollars of equipment made useless (Can call but can't receive). I have abandoned Skype. I do not use a Smartphone and have no intention to get one in order to use Skype and I'm not going to leave a PC on with Skype running either.So Skype is history for me.
I suspect the next thing to happen will be Windows 10 on all my 10 computers.But I have Linux images ready to go when that happens.
That bad headed idiot SatNad is running MS into oblivion. - After last update on ios (version 8 I believe) skype has become unusable. Cannot connect to other people - only texting works, the interface is confusing.
- Reasons to abandon Skype --(1) It's buggy -- calls wrong numbers, won't connect, redials last number when you enter a new one, number pad won't work in calls. maybe not all these every day, but VOIP needs to be reliable and Skype is NOT, (2) poor user interface design. My opinion, not going to say more, but it's caused me numerous problems.
- Neil Arnwine: I can't prove my identity to Microsoft. Ya'll don't have much imagination in that regard.
- requires me to update. update not possible.
freakin updates. there is no point in updates these days anymore.- Updates are in fact ways of pushing down all of their rubbish, second it fills up your storage capacity which ultimately make you buy a new phone / tablet, it's all worked out between them, these giant companies all work against the consumer.
I use an old Samsung Ace and now skype won't run unless they download the updates, the updates are NO longer compatible with that version of Android, so meaning I need to buy a brand new phone with an updated android, you wouldn't believe the amount of junk they push down on you, and you can't even uninstall them, pretty much like what Windows 10 does to its users, it will push down updates whether you like it or not, and it will reboot when it feels like without giving you any choices, in other word Microsoft and co will own your own computer and device.
I use Linux and use free apps
- Skype is frustrating since the update. I cant send or receive calls. The calls show up as missed but they were never seen to answer! I really dislike the update. Its difficult to find features, i cant tell when contacts are on line and im ready to find a new ap soon!
- Similar problem here,
since about two weeks ago, I can't make video/audio call with one specific contact. Only able to send messages and files to each other. No notice of incoming Audio or Video Skype calls.
We'r not blocked by each other. Both have latest skype ver. 7.38. Echo/audio test is working fine. Other contacts connect just fine. has MS blocked us for blocking their annoying ads in skype?? all we did, added apps.skype.com to restricted sites in internet options of IE. this is our choice!
- Skype or rather microsoft have stopped supporting my router connected phone (been with them since it was Skype) so I have no need for them now. BUT I bet they are still connecting my monthly sub. I will use my SIP phone easier and less complicated than using skype on my computer!
- I think it is a * too much management*problem, as you so succinctly put it it did not need fixing.skype must have many managers trying to give a reason to be there.
- So, bearing in mind my previous comment, I have signed up for Google Hangouts per the list provided in this bulletin, to replace Skype. We will see how it goes.
I very much appreciate this information bulletin. It saved me a lot of time in researching options to replace Skype.
Thank You. - I have been a Skype user for 9 years. Most of my calls are international, frequently made in countries other than the US.
Skype is requiring me to “upgrade” to a newer version that is incompatible with my older computer. My computer runs on OS 10.6.8 and the new version of Skype requires 10.9+. Before this month, the upgrade appeared to be optional. Now, it is mandatory. Therefore, I am now unable to use Skype.
Also, there have been numerous irritating things with Skype. What used to be a simple procedure to make a call is now more complex. Navigating the screens are more complex. Skype appears to be charging more, or perhaps the method of charging for calls has changed to my disadvantage. Sometimes it takes a long time to make a connection. However, once the connection has been made, it appears that the quality of the call has improved over time.
The general impression that I have developed is that: Skype originally placed customer service as its number one priority. Now, I believe that customer service is a lower priority.- Same situation for me Donald. I have been using 10.6.8 ever since Apple took Rosetta out of their OS. Then one day Skype wouldn't let me sign on with its old version and its newer version wouldn't run on 10.6.8 (thanks a lot Microsh*t). OK, bit the bullet . upgraded to Mac OS 10.11.6 . installed the later version of Skype and found that I couldn't import the old chats even though I have Mbytes of Skype chats stored in my laptop!!!The take away? Pigs never make money . are you listening MS? Now, no one in my corporation will ever be allowed to use MS apps for our business . NO ONE!! Nice job MS . nice job. Steve Jobs at Apple would never have treated his customers this way (which is why Apple is the richest company in the world!).
- Skype now requires an advanced operating system - os 10.9+. My old computer runs on os 10.6. Up until the last few days, the update was optional and Skype functioned well on my computer. Now, the update appears to be mandatory and Skype will not let me sign in.
But other little things have been irritating recently. What used to be a relatively simple process to make a call has become more complex. Navigating the screen is difficult. The charges - the method of charges perhaps - appear to have increased. Frequently I do not get through quickly. Generally, once connected, the quality of the call has been good and improved over time.
I have used Skype for 9 years in various countries and the majority of my calls are/were international.
My impressions: The original Skype placed the customer interests first. Customer interests are lower priority with this new Skype. - I guess that my computer is too old for Skype as if my phone.so online suits me!
- It kept charging me 9 dollars to video chat
- I'm looking for an alternative to skype which has an ability to create a personal voice message greeting. Does anybody know one?
- Microsoft has progressively destroyed Skype. The video/screen share drive our graphic card crazy. Horsepower hog.
- I have enjoyed Skype for years. Yesterday it offered an 'update'. I now find my contact list has disappeared, and incomprehensible 'bots' have taken over.
I still wish to speak to family and friends, but apparently the clever people at MS/Skype think I would rather speak to an android, and have cut me off from my people. Indeed, it is a chilling preview of the artificial intelligence world in which MS 'experts' wish us to live, and so, in its self-serving paternalism, severs all our inconvenient ties with human beings.
Perhaps those Microsoft clever dicks are already androids who have taken over. - We used to use Skype for all of our phone communications, by using a Skype USB adaptor as a bridge between our PABX and a dedicated Windows server. This allowed us to make paid calls to landlines, and free calls to Skype users by dialling a 2-digit shortcut code. Incoming Skype calls appeared on a dedicated PABX trunk, and could be answered in the usual way.
Then Skype discontinued support for shortcut codes; we got around this for a while by using third-party software called SkypeMate. But the latest versions of Skype don't support USB handsets at all. Unfortunately, none of the products mentioned in this article appears to be a suitable replacement.
Skype issues new versions almost weekly, and each seems to have fewer facilities and more bugs than the one before. We have now stopped using Skype completely, but have yet to find a product that offers the same facilities as the early versions. - I am abandoning Skype for Android permanently today, not because I want to but because Microsoft has forced many users to do so (just look at the Skype support forums and news articles). Any version after 6.34 is just plain crap and completely broken. Today 6.34 would not sign in until I updated, but the new version is completely unusable as a chat app. And when you try Skype for Web on your Android device it says 'Oops Skype for Web is not ready for your device'. Only option left is to use a different chat service such as Facebook or Telegram.So moral of the story is, Microsoft is obviously trying to get rid of as many of their users as possible, maybe to ease traffic on their servers (?) I wish I knew what the deal was. It is impossible for me to believe that they are actually this utterly incompetent, so the only possible explanation besides insane amounts of incompetency must be they are trying to remove as many of us users as possible. So, for the first time since Skype was first introduced I am now a Skype-less individual. lol, Thanks Microsoft, thanks a whole bunch for being THE biggest idiot of corporations.Going to keep trying Browser after Browser to see if we can force the Web version to work. Fingers crossed.
- yep same here. Skype sent all my contacts to Microsoft before it even gave me the chance to turn that option off. And the best of all this is, you can't even write them feedback on their website unless you log in with a damn microsoft account. Lol what. That's it, that's enough, skype is gone for me and will never come back.
- Last week I called NZ on Skype . Today when I tried all my contacts were gone and only option was new app. Microsoft did this with no permission or even the. Courtesy of advising new pricing. I will never open a Microsoft account.
- Same story. Thank you. After so much annoyance, looking for alternatives.
- Same story here. All my contacts were uploaded and I could find no way to delete contacts on the app. Plus, when I went online to cancel my Skype account, I was informed that I would also loose all information on OneDrive, messages, etc. So Microsoft has linked everything together and forces you to use Skype if you use other apps such as OneDrive? How ridiculous. I guess I will use Google Drive instead of OneDrive. And I will have to look for a replacement to stay in touch with friends and family when I travel abroad.
- Microsoft Skype is no longer supported for iOS Mountain Lion, Microsoft can go to hell as far as I'm concerned! How to bring downloaded sounds into garageband.
- tired of every time I turn on my computer i get asked for microsnot or skype password
- Skype kicked me off after I updated to Windows 10.
- Skype kicked me off after I updated Windows to 0.
- Skype has just pushed out a 'beta' version for Linux users that has NO settings controls for hardware, or any of the other granier elements of their application. In short, the user has NO CONTROL over the application anymore. You can't even switch from the integrated camera on your laptop to a usb connected camera. The older version was retired. Microsoft routinely does this sort of 'downgrading' of every piece of software it purchases that is Linux compatible. To me, it stinks of monopoly building of the same nature that Google is now being sued by the EU for dabbling in (albeit by other methods). Microsoft has so dominated the commercial application market that the entire world is now facing jeopardy from attack vectors on it's operating systems simply because people have no alternatives for their business applications (that they know of). Skype is now in the hands of a global tyrant, and Linux is not 'in' with their philosophy.therefore - 'beta' really? BS.
- My issue with Skype is now that Microsoft owns it they are pushing an operating system upgrade and soon will no longer support XP. My wife calls her mother in Ukraine and we are not going to ask her to upgrade her PC because Microsoft is pushing Windows 10 ( I hate Windows 10 more than I hate ISIS )
- Agreed, I believe Microsoft is becoming the first corporate entity that truly needs to have a Military force to go destroy it. I can't think of another company so deserving of 100% destruction. Ten years ago I loved this company and now its about as evil as the devil himself.
- Switch to Linux (any flavour) and run a pirate copy of windows 10 pro as a virtual machine in virtualbox. Skype and all their other m$ bullshit will work fine, plus you'll not need an antivirus as the machine boots up with the same image each time you launch it.
- Skype was great until Microsoft got their hands on it! Their latest update does not accommodate Bluetooth speakers. Handsets yes. Speakers no. So if you are not at the pc wearing a headset, you can't hear an incoming call. How useless is that! Also, you can't gather several people around to participate in a call. I'm evaluating the alternatives.
- With update Skype 'disappeared' most of my contacts, all of my history save one, went through hell to sign in on Iphone even after password change(s), incomprehensible menu symbols and presented me with a monster. To top it off I cannot get a refund for my Skype Credit. What the hell are these people thinking?
- I have persistent difficulties with signing in. They say that my account was suspended, that it is associated with sending a lot of spam and they, of course, want ensure i am the right user. Surely, i'll switch to another way of internet calling, as this is too annoyning. Miscrosoft is frustration. A year ago i bought a Nokia phone and there are so many issues with it.
- After 2 days of using Skype I have been reminded once again why you should never use Microsoft products. Went to Skype this morning and they had locked me out of my account! Some nonsense about someone may have used your account in violation of our TOS, but the REAL reason was. They want to force users to give a phone number! Skype said 'we'll send a code to your phone to prove it's you' or similar. Hah! They sent the security install confirmation code via email, so why can't they do so this time? Oh. Right. Because then the Microsoft haven't added another juicy phone number to their databases for who knows what reason in future - telemarketing? Other spying purposes? A phone number doesn't prove identity any more than an email does, so it's bull. Thanks for your article. Going to delete Skype and try other (hopefully nicer!) companies now.
- Skype was truly great in its day. Then it started delaying me with 'Improving my experience' every time I called someone.Lately it keeps trying to make me upgrade quite frequently and I then get Error 1603, which has no clear solution anywhere I can find. The only way I can get the upgrade to work is to reboot my machine and upgrade Skype before doing any other work.If Microsoft can't figure out how to install their own application on their own OS, without an error, or at the very least with an error that has an explanation, I believe we are all lost !!
- Skype was awesome until Microsoft bought it. Then, as with all Microsoft software acquisitions, it was ground into garbage. SO frustrating! I have PAID for their service and not only does it not work - there are no customer service agents available for live help. (Unlike in the old days, when service was awesome).
- I used to love it, it's all I ever wanted to use, not now it's hard to maneuver, hard for those that are computer illiterate and so, in it's aim to reach others, it has lost a lot more. It's not a good choice for many reasons, and with so much more out there, with better everything, why stay with it. the free 60 min. with Microsoft isn't worth using when I can get free elsewhere. I need video chat not more phone help good grief.
- somebody else spying on my communications on a shared computer is why i want an alternative. a web based one is great. i'll try google.
- As of June 1, 2017, Skype no longer supports 3rd party hardware that is used to make Skype your home phone. I can no longer receive phone calls from anyone who is not on Skype, and even then, it's only on my iMac. The device I used to integrate Skype with my V-Tech phone system is now useless. Looking for something new. and will never consider Skype again!
- [looking for the LOVE button.]
- Skype got rid of the audio controls. I would listen in on rehearsals of concert bands and to make it work we needed to turn off the auto-leveling of the volume to prevent 'pumping' and dropouts. This seems no longer possible in Skype. Which is too bad. It was a great tool for remote rehearsal.
- The scumsuckers are abandoning my hardware. I will not get a new android 7 phone just so I can continue to use Skype. They can sit on it and spin rapidly. (And I want my Skype credit refunded, little that it is.)
- I'd been using Skype on Linux for the last four years..and the desktop client is next to useless, anyway. With this new redesign, Linux support is being extinguished. ('Embrace, extend, extinguish', anybody?)I dropped Skype a few months back in any case, when I discovered WIRE. And so have most of my friends, and a few family members. It does everything Skype can; well, everything that I need it to..
- the new version of Skype via Microsoft will make me leave Skype if it becomes the only option.
No menu bar and I couldn't figure out how to ad a phone contact.
Lots of time wasted until I was able to revert to the old version. - I have Skype on more than one system so I tried on iPhone to call mum but no joy so I reloaded Skype put in name and password it was rejected wrong password so to save fuss I decided to change code entirely. Tried to call daughter from kindle Skype password wrong so i tried old password but no so tried new again but no again, I am 60 and am faster than Skype at updating its shit shit shit
- All of them need a mobile account. Bit devous. Why not just for PC?
- Not true! Tried many alternatives and settled on ooVoo. Works just like Skype used to, in the good old days, when it was simple and reliable. No mobile account required. Works on Windows PC, XP through W10
- ooVoo dont need phone number. but simple text messaging are made so difficult and slow, it cannot compared to any other product. Lot of clicks before you can start typing and you cannot see message thread!?!
- I am not able to reach Customer Help per email neither per phone. All help is automated, the Center web pages, the chat. The yearly subscription of around 70 Euros has disappeared from my account and I cannot reach support to get it back. Not admissible.
- Why do Microsoft always fix something badly which was not broken???? Microsoft are useless. Since they took over Skype they have ruined what was a very good communication tool. I have just created a new skype account and find that my username is my phone number. That is ridiculous, I can never remember my phone number. What happened to the easy to remember unique skype name. For the next day or so I will stagger along with that stupid account while I check out the alternatives. I will then cancel the skype account when I have downloaded a suitable alternative. RIP SKYPE. Please sack whoever made the decision to no longer use unique easy to remember skype names.
- I have had my private skype account for years, yesterday I decided to create another one for business purposes, all went well until after logging out to change accounts I can't log in again. Thinking there must have been a bug in the system I actually created a second new account (not my normal behaviour, but was seriously confused by the weird response lol) just to realise I had the same problem on my neck. This is insane and reading the comments to this article I'm happy to see I'm not alone in this skype mad house. pretty incredible how someone can f*ck up such a great and simple tool and make this monster out of it. R.I.P Skype
- After many years with Skype, they have now removed the personal voicemail message facility, making their product useless to us.
We are now looking to move asap because of this.- Absolutely agree! That just isn't acceptable to anybody. Useless is a good description. And why would they do that? It can only be that they don't even understand what people want from a phone. As far as I know, you can't even pay extra for the feature (and I would even though it would anger me almost as much). Please publish if you find a better solution. Thanks.
- The removal of a 'personal' greeting. We are a charity offering simple IT courses to those who need them. We subscribe to a Skype number and run a virtual office, manned by volunteers. Our clients, already dubious of IT, need to be greeted with a welcoming greeting not a generic robot. This is appalling and we will most certainly looking for an alternative.
- hi,
Im just realize how horrible the Skype service is.
Lets start by the simple fact that they hide customer support and you will be able to reach them only on certain matters if its SOS (matters that got to do with payment or security violation) and you will be able to open a chat with someone that doesn't know how to deal with things like that, but in all other issues they will forward you to their help section which is not updated since a while - in my case I was trying to record a voice greeting and couldn't find it and continually was referred to more help content or the community. apperantely they took down the service of recording a greeting and didn't updated this huge thing in their files.
Any way, I'm done with Skype and I think that soon also Skype will be done with Skype.
Is someone can recommend a similar service to having a Skype number for my business.thats all I need, a US phone that I could communicate with my customers in the US as its a local number. Thanks- My skype identity was stolen - with some money in the account. There was no way of contacting Microsoft to fix this. Providing details of prior financial transactions on the account at their request failed to convince them that I was the true owner of the account.I'm done with skype and forcing all of my contacts to use alternatives.
- Locked out of my account simply because I was logged in on 2 different devices at the same time. No way to appeal other than submit a form which results in the response that I haven't given sufficient info and I should submit another form with the exact same questions which then gives me the same response repeat ad nauseum like a Kafkaesque nightmare . Bye bye Skype F*** off and die.
- Got a windows wifi phone.
I had a unlimited auto renew subscription, US and Canada, ($2.99C)lost my CC, cancelled card, Skype went to renew, couldn't because card dead. Got new CC, tried to reactivate subscription, can't, have to get a subscription for Canada ($4.00US) and US ($4.00US)now. With all the call drops and people will not pick up for that number that shows on display. It is not worth it amymore. Used to be very good, but now shit. - Just the instructions for using Skype alone are f**ked up. Written like a military field manual, only without the military logic -- just the typical illogic of Microsoft-think. I can remember when the changeover from 1.0 to 2.0 was controversial, again when 6.0 showed up, and even 7.0 and thereafter -- but nothing is as screwed up as is the current Skype now that Microsoft has sexually abused it. I will glad be trying out the alternatives listed above. As for my Skype contacts, I suppose I'd better get them recorded now before Microsoft starts charging me for their management and then makes it impossible for me to to export to another system. I cannot believe how incompetent Microsoft has been ever since Gates stole CP-M from Gary Kiddall's widow, renamed it DOS, and ripped off IBM for a license. Some things never change.
- 'Skype' does not work, has never worked and probably will never work. When you first install it it extracts lots of personal information which it passes to Microsoft (who pass it to their friends for ads serving), then when you try to log in it always says 'there is a problem with your Microsoft account'. ???? 'Microsoft account'- I'm trying to use Skype wakey wakey !! What has the maker of my television got to do with using a computer software program.? 'Skype's programmers are extremely amateur. I remember in the early 90's that Yahoo Messenger was able to do far more than most of these shonky 'apps' do now (until it was 'knobled').
The lost art of computer programming:
Everyone is so obsessed with dumbphones and trying to make cash by issuing completely useless 'apps' via Google's cashmaker interface that they have forgotten how computers work haha. shit, shit and more and more shit. Is there anyone out there who can program or are we consigned to a future of Microsoft morons who cannot even speak their own language... - When they deleted the ability for me to see the local time at the location I was calling - that was it. What a dumb action by Microsoft but then what can otherwise be expected!!
- Used Skype happily for years. Yesterday they simply changed my password without my permission to my Microsoft Account and told me to login using that. The thing is I NEVER had a MS account. Now totally locked out of my account with ten euro unused credit. Trying to recover password turns into an absurd password loop. Unbelievable. I can't believe an online company would simply change your passord without any warning or without your permission!!!
- Until up to version 7 skype worked ok. It kept nagging for upgrade, but otherwise I didn't have any problems with it. Then it stopped working, logged me off and demanded upgrade. I upgraded to version 7 and bizarre things started.
One day I can make calls, the other day I cannot - only chat available.
I ran SRT utility, reinstalled skype tweaked firewall - nothing helped.
My overall feeling that whatever M$ touches eventually turns to $h.t. I need to find something else more usable. - I don't like that I am forced to link microsoft, can't unlink it without deleting my entire account, can't seem to edit much. I don't enjoy being bullied into staying with a company. And until I make sure all my email business is taken care of I can't delete my account. ugh! Negative 5 stars!
- Basically, I had a Skype account before Bill Gates' evil empire took it over. Micro$oft have disabled the account, & set a number of hoops for me to jump through to get it back. They have decided in their infinite wisdom that they don't like the answers I have given, and there is no appeal. So that is that. I need an alternative.
- WTF I can't even see the alternatives. Is this an evil microsoft plot??
- I got my Sax lessons over skype for about 3 years. This required my system to be able to hear and transmit both my Sax while I was playing and the Backing Music I was using. BUT now the EVIL Microsoft has apparently done and 'Update'. Now my system will not carry music from my Sax and Backing music at the same time.
- Skype is insane! I've had two accounts with Skype over the years and today when trying to log on, neither will suddenly recognize my password. And do you think the recover password or reset password is simple? Hello no! Rather than a simple email sending me to a link to create a new one, Microsoft spiraled me down into the 5th circle of hell asking me to verify my existence remember those I've skyped back in the 70's or how much to the penny I might have paid for previous skype services -- then on what credit card, and what the license plate was for the postal guy who delivered said credit card and what color shirt he was wearing at the time. Okay, so I might be exaggerating a tad for effect, but not much. Then I tried to find a phone # to call Skype in order to scream at someone-- it doesn't exist. Tried to find an email to email someone so I could type-scream--the system just cycled me back into the aforementioned fifth circle of hell. It really really really really really is insane! How do people like this stay in business. I dare someone from skype to log on and pretend the need to reset their password (a password they know is correct in the first place. ha.) The lack of intuitiveness, lack of simplicity, lack of availability, lack-lack-lack. sheesh. Oh, and did I mention that their system apparently won't email at all to Apple Mail. Ha. I figured that out after filling out their forms 3 different times. Anyway.apologies for the venting here but it's cheaper than therapy. They deserve to go under. Out.
- I had same problem. How is it acceptable to suddenly change your passwords and login details without permission or even prior notice.
- I'll just add this; at least the browser 'app' (https://web.skype.com) APPEARS to be still working. Well..kinda. Sort of. Wouldn't like to say for how much longer, mind you.!
- Skype is no longer worth the time and investment especially since Microsoft took over. First of all, there is no logical reason to remove the time feature for all your numbers unless the people you call are in your same time zone. Second, they put so many barriers to entry for their service support emails that you do what I think they want you to do - give up. Third, there does not seem to be any adults in charge. You make a comment on the community site and instead of providing answers they now want to hand out trophies or kudos for contribution. This may be hard for snowflakes to hear so a trigger warning. What you might want to do is upgrade your business acumen so that it is easy to do business with your site.
Last, the FAQ process is useless. One example. Type in 'how to find the date I first signed up for Skype?' No where I can find including my profile but Skype's asked you that question in order to request support help along with six to ten other items. Why?
Last but not least. for all the money you pay for not Skype calls over time, you would think it would be easy to print out a log on the calls. Good Luck. Time to know that the hype in Skype is just that - hype. - '.what frustrated you so much about Skype to make you start searching for alternatives?'
The fact that they decided to suspend my account this morning because I won't give them my DOB, cell number, etc. which they have no right to have.
I only found out when new friends tried to look me up and said there was no such user. Logged on, found out I have been suspended. Tried to reinstate, not allowed unless I cough up my PII - Personally Identifiable Information (you know, the stuff you're supposed to keep secure?)
I was one of the very first users way back a dozen or so years ago. I'm suddenly not valid? And, there's no way you could think I'm under 13 when I have been using you for 13(ish) years. So it's not a keeping track of minors issue.
So, once again, MicroSucks buys something just to ruin it. - I am just so over Skype. When I first found it in 2005, I was over the moon. It was a lifesaver when I did a teacher exchange program and ended up in Riga, Latvia for a year. Since then, I have lived in Germany, and I rely on it heavily. I like the idea of having a U.S. phone number that anyone in the U.S. can reach me at.I have tried to overlook the problems for years, but they just keep multiplying and seem to have started when Microsoft acquired the company. Sometimes it just rings and rings and rings for a caller, and they never get to leave a voicemail. More than half the time, the phone doesn't ring on my Windows 8.1 phone. I cannot listen to the voicemail I do manage to get on my phone because Skype doesn't support voicemail on Windows 8.1 phones. What the heck is up with that? Insane. And now, for the past two days, my phone does not ring at all on ANY device. It rings and goes to a voicemail message that is not the one I recorded, but a generic one with a foreign accent. Anyone calling would think they'd reached the wrong number. Skype's reply.do you want us to refund you for your phone number or escalate the issue.I have pretty much had it and am looking for something that gives me the ability to have a U.S. phone number attached to it. That's a requirement. When I find the right thing, adios Microsoft.Looked into Wire.com, but they don't have an app for my phone.
- Skype used to be perfect. Since the worlds richest man has owned it (Bill Gates) it has cut me off every five minutes and there is no live support. Its now dow graded to junk status.
- They just dropped the local time feature from each contact. Something about privacy. Wi many international contacts and many of them flying hither and yonder, you want to make sure you are not bothering them in the middle of the night wherever they are.
- Skype just keeps getting harder and harder to use, especially since Microsoft got it. Its completely not user friendly. Maybe if you use it every day you can know where all the hidden features are. Hope to find a good alternative.
- I'm abandoning skype for the simple reason that it causes my CPU on a brand new, 2 month old computer, to run at 98% consistently. It makes playing even basic games, or watching netflix, with my boyfriend. a very tedious task, considering it lags because it can't process everything, and I end up having to say 'What?' 300 times before i get the full sentence without it breaking up. I'm tired of it picking up the faintest background noise and amplifying the volume to 30000%, and the fact that with each 'Update' They release it seems to get worse. I've relied on skype for years, and only noticed the problems getting increasingly bad to the point of being unbearable in the past 5 months or so. R.I.P Skype :( still trying to decide on an alternative to go with.
- I concur with Louis, at March 21, 2017 at 1:23 pm. Skype updated itself, locked me out until I created a Microsoft account. Then demanded 24 hours for me to verify the anonymous account, that I have a valid password for was indeed mine. I don't like to put myself out there, I don't want the world to know where I live, what I do, it was merely so my family could contact me.looks like WhatsApp is getting my business.
- I'm only switching because Skype required me to do an update and in the process doesn't work anymore. I have Skype 6.14 and it's forcing me to update to 7.33 but while 7.33 is installing it says that there is an error in uninstalling 7.33 . I've searched for a solution and tried a few but it's useless. So, I've done something I don't easily do. I've given up.
- Skype customer service has to be the worst in the world. It is impossible to get a direct answer from anyone. Their help forums send you around in a circle just waiting yours time.
My wife was locked out of her account and she cannot answer enough of there security questions to allow to be reset by the Skype website- basically ' Computer say No'
I shall abandon Skype and will be persuading my friends, family and business associates to follow suit- I've experienced the same thing. https://milesnew.weebly.com/serpentine-font-free-download-mac.html. Nightmare.
- The latest version of Skype doesn't work with my version of Windows. So I downloaded an older version. As soon as I connected, this message appeared:
'You've been disconnected because you're using an old version of Skype. click here to download the latest version'.
Pretty much a 'Catch-22' sort of situation- I don't want to be the one to say it, but. 'typical Microsoft'.
- skype belongs to microshit,that is the prob.no customer service.
- Fair enough ;)
- the bill gates touch
a nasty mixture of arrogance, insensitivity, greed, and stupidity - They are apparently easily hacked.
I don't use Skype daily, but once every few weeks or months I have a need to make voice call over IP.
In the last year every time I have attempted to get on I have had to go through the foolishness IDing myself and changing my password sometimes twice in one day or two or three days in a row.
It is painfully time consuming and often still leaves me with no service of poor service. But just wait till you attempt to close your account. That is an even more painful waste of my time again. Skype and microsoft appear to have absolutely no concern for my needs as a customer and consumer of their products.
Then when it is all done they say you have succeeded in closing your account it will be closed in 60 days. So it is apparently OK with Microsoft & Skype to let the hackers that have hacked my account have free run of my account for another month or so to consume my balance on account and whatever else they are doing with my account.
It is infuriating. I have been a PC and therefore microsoft user for more then 20 years, now a Mac user for the last 3 or 4 years. Mac is not perfect, but customer service with microsoft does not exist and I have always gotten a person on the phone with me from Apple even on devices that are 2, 3 and 4 years old. Bye, Bye Skype and microsoft.- Well I hope one of these alternatives helps!
- I have just given up with Skype - their customer service is a joke - it's impossible to call them and the chat line is pathetic.
They used to be good but now that Microsoft have taken over it is just totally hopeless.- Did you try one of these alternatives? What do you think?
- I am abandoning Skype because it blocks my account for no legitimate reason, claiming that it has detected suspected activity. This is absolutely wrong. I am a professional in Computer Systems Security, and my password conforms to the highest security standards. As I see it, Skype does this only to force their users to give out their mobile phone numbers. So sad that Microsoft has decided to completely ruin this product and their users' trust in it.
- Could it be them getting confused with you using a VPN or something?
- After wasting a day, I am abandoning Skype as it forces you to link to a Microsoft account, if you have an old skype account, one cannot unlink that from your Microsoft acc(I checked this with support), so you have to create a new Microsoft account, BUT you cannot use just any old email address to create a Microsoft acc, no no, its got to be a generic domain such as Gmail(not a work domain). So then create a email for the sole purpose of creating a MS acc for the sole purpose of creating Skype acc.and if the Gmail insist on a recovery cell then you need aphone as well. Geez MSoft!
- Yep. This is a pretty ridiculous set up.
- terrible breath/background noise, I have to cut the sound of my gf's screen most of the time, except when she has actually something meaningful to say!!
- Which alternative have you found has the best quality?
- Skype has been making automatic re-dial calls for some time on my cell, and no indication a call is happening unless I'm lucky enough to try to make a second call to different party & get the message 'already on a call'. There seems to be no solution to this from skype forums . thanks so much for these excellent-sounding options!
- skype does not work on windows 10 os.
- I have 10 on a Surface 4 and skype works.it just sucks. (See my comments)
- skype cannot find api-ms-win-crt-runtime-l1-0.dll anymore. I installed all and everything, cleaned up even the registry. Nothing helps.
The old version on an XP laptop is still running fine.
I can also not use the online skype (MS explorer), because skype stopped detecting the webcam: Black image on my side. The others can see and hear me, I hear them too but cannot see me and not them.
Had skype re-intsalled many times in the past, nearly any update produced new problems instead of solving problems.
Skype is not working in Opera anymore.
Enough - I hate to update or upgrade software. I particularly hate to be forced to do it in order to continue using the software, and I particularly hate being forced to do it by Microsoft.
Microsoft just forced me to install the new version of Skype. I could no longer login to Skype without installing the new Microsoft version. So, sadly, I am now looking to replace Skype. - needing a Microsoft account to use the Android app
- Skype continual forced updates. I was happy with older version but now the new version refuse to work on old hardware. The new owner microshit company force us to buy new computer for using for basic operations like talk on skype.
Why is necessary to buy an new computer or to install win 10 shit for that ?
This is usual microsoft bullshit to take our money for nothyng.
Microsoft is not a company, is a criminal organization. - Freaking nightmare updates that will only work if you have windows 10. Files after files after files missing.just download this link. Oooops, you have another file missing. Spend countless hours scouring for the solution only to realize the option is NOT TO USE SKYPE.
- Problems with Skype are multiplying . The common one all along has been call dropouts and poor picture quality, probably from congestion . Video calls to my partner overseas are precious, so it's frustrating . but more recently our calls drop out when advertising appears - does that mean they are too tight with band-width? . Another call dropped when Skype sent an ad for its update - which I had already seen . and lately the updates won't load properly, and I have to delete the previous version first - but even then I get error messages. Yet another problem is hundreds of junk files that suddenly accumulate whenever I'm on Skype, anything from 40 to 1800, and as fast as I dump them they come back - my cleanup program calls them 'privacy problems' (?) . a new issue lately: when my partner tries to call me, the answer button is not active and I can't answer. I'm over Skype . it's a dud.
- Skype for linux no longer does screenshare. Another MS smart upgrade idea.Whilst these alternatives seem fine, they lack the ability to scroll / search messages. As a freelance IT person, I often need to search for something discussed in chat 'last week'. None of these offer that. I want to communicate from my desktop (Mobile apps are nice but not suitable for the office or at 3am or when you touchtype or need to screenshare work or swap files)20 years ago I had ICQ and others. Somebody made a dashboard that would connect to all your accounts so it was seamless when you were chatting. We need that again.I can email anyone - whether you are in a different country or use Outlook or webmail - no difference to me. THAT is what we need in 2017 'messaging'. I want to chat, call, send files and screenshare with ANYONE on any OS using any client they like.Surely not rocket surgery.
- heres an idea. bring back the old yahoo messenger. where as you could chat with anybody around the world. and for free. that was the best message app on the net. but somebody at yahoo decided to get rid of all the open chat rooms. IDIOT..........
- Skype continual forced updates. I was happy with older version. Not so much with the new fangled version.
- Skype does not feel intuitive. Too much hassle. Prefer Google's Duo. Trying to get as many of my friends to use it too.
- Skype have now screwed up screen sharing where you can hear each other but when you play a movie or program the other can see the picture and cannot hear it. Also the translator is fine with typing but now has a feature where it talks and gets it wrong and there seem no way to deactivate the voice option without turning the whole thing off, so your typing while on a video call is not understandable. They should not try to fix something that is not broken , which ends out breaking it.
- Whatsapp has an extremely restrictive approach
You mobile MUST have a data connection, you can ONLY use it on TWO devices (absolute BS) and the other person MUST be in your mobile contacts.If the one person i use it for switched to something else I WOULD DROP IT LIKE A WET TURD. - I miss the games Skype used to have. Once microsoft got their mittens on it, the games were taken out. My friend overseas and I loved to play Sea Battle (obviously their version of Battleship which had audio and video effects .so much fun) plus many others. Why does anything microsoft says it will improve just ends up turning the program into garbage. We're STILL trying to find a replacement. So far, any Sea Battle games we've found doesn't have the great audio/video effects. Also we want the program for desktop or at least, web based). Great article, by the way.
- Its time to bring others over to the non-skype of your choice! In a couple of weeks, Skyprosoft insists that I agree to the new terms of service - which are TOTALLY unacceptable. The privacy they claim to respect must only apply to my firstborn, because they now claim free access to any information they can get from anywhere and the freedom to use it anyway they want. My software won't be supported.No Thank You.Unseen.is also has nearly full service. Though some features are free, its pay per year or per lifetime. Great privacy, encrypted, and used by many journalists to get material out of oppressive countries with thorough censorship. Ya don haveta be paranoid to want privacy.
- I abandoned Skype long time ago but it seems that Skype can't abandon me - Skype is still bundled with Microsoft office as Skype for business and mostly annoying you can't delete your Skype account no matter how hard you try (no delete account option and the customer service can't delete it for you either).
- Skype is old tech now. it has problems using on ios multiple devices if they are on different ios versions. Some of them ring, some not. The Worst thing is sometimes none of them rings and you get 'missed call' message.It has messaging and group functions mostly not usable. sit in front of computer and talk days are over.I used skype for last 4 years (with paid credit and phone number option) for international calls between EU and Canada (with too much time difference) and I lost too much money because of missed calls. Whoever tells me 'let's skype' I say 'no'.
- The quality of sound and interface that he so many annoying features. I have moved to Viber 2 years ago.
- all these apps require your contacts share the same app. so for me its Skype for the PC and whatsapp for the phone. Not interested in migrating contacts or getting my friends to install yet another app on their phones.
- i want to toss a few cuss words in the air at Microsoft. Skype has been pestering me about updating, i've been ignoring it. Finally my password stopped working to get into Skype. It's been the same for years. i reset the password and the new password wouldn't work. The update pop ups were popping more. i was still trying to ignore them. This morning i tried the password and it kept rejecting it saying it was wrong. Out of frustration i clicked to update Skype, now my password works.i'm an IT pro (20+ years) and have seen issues with updates. i'm not a big fan of constantly updating. i haven't done a system update on my main workstation in over a year. The system couldn't be running better. Numerous times i've had a bad update stop my workflow and require lots of time to troubleshoot the problems that came with an update. So much for working at that point in time, have to fix stuff, WTF. If your work is pressed for time it doubles the frustration.i don't like being sculpted by Microsoft. i've used their products for years. Numerous times over the years, Microsoft finally comes out with a new configuration for the OS that i started using years earlier. In other words, Microsoft was lagging on a better way to configure the OS, but i had the option to adjust it for better workflow. With the current trend of Microsoft, they are locking down the OS and preventing us for customizing it for better usage/workflow. They are limiting us to their vision and taking away the options for us to implement our own potentially better ways.By 2023, i'm pretty sure i'm moving away from Microsoft. i haven't a thoroughly thought out a plan how, but i'm motivated and experienced enough to do it. i have many clients that come to me for computer needs. Not only am i trying to figure out how i can move myself away from Microsoft, but also a way for every client i have.Microsoft, i don't mind paying for OSes and other services, but when the quality of those services are turning to crap and ads, even in pro environments, it becomes time for the world to have a new pro alternative.
- Couple of comments: Alternative service not mentioned & My reason for dumping Skype.Service: Unseen at unseen.is has encrypted voice, email, and other services. Some free. Their major goal is security between users - especially journalists in difficult places. Lifetime membership available. U.S. Company based in Iceland where privacy is honored.Microsoft 'privacy': I'm looking around because the way microsoft 'values your privacy' is by plainly stating and specifically naming every possible bit of information they might be able to find in personal files even on device. None of my businesses or clients will use Skype because it is so insecure. Why did the Swedes have to sell it !!!Email client for mac exchange support microsoft. Skype announced I will not be able to use the service unless I upgrade (something they can't seem to do on my Mac for years). Their prices keep climbing and their attempts to plug all possible routes to privacy have finally succeeded. I understand Microsoft's stated aim is to have all their software subscriber based with them in total control of data and upgrading. Often, their patches and upgrades cause failure in programs AND operating systems. Real problem here.(okay, so I'm skeptical of power hungry control freaks)
- Is there a similar alternative for Skype, named Emo ( Eno)?
Thanks - I've been using Skype almost since the beginning of it. I'd forgotten that MS bought it 5 years ago but it was brought home to me the other day when I wanted to close a MS account (which I never really wanted anyway) and was told by MS that if I closed the account I would lose any Skype credit I had. As it is now poorer quality than it was years ago (dropped calls, noise, a complete disregard for its users (who made it what it is) it's time for a change. Hopefully enough people will stop using it that MS will notice. Although I'm currently using Windows 10 (which in itself isn't too bad if you turn off a lot of stuff) I use Open Office, Firefox, Gmail and none of the MS stuff that can't be uninstalled or disabled. As I don't like Apple (as bad as MS) nor Android I'll buy my next machine without an OS and run Linux. MS, Apple and Android have become far too Big Brother and controlling, it's time for us to revolt, stop being herded like sheep, and try the alternatives.
- Skype became a shit program, need an alternative
- As predicted, Skype once it was 'monetized' has morphed into something not serving a purpose, and there is no way to talk anyone, case in point, I made error in skype info so my account thinks I am a young person, nope, an old fart (67), and am locked out and after 3 hours on chat line back & forth, they could not simply set my account back to what it was few hours prior to the 'issue', I than wanted to have a new account but it would not allow entry of an account name and que for password but rather, it used my email!,I do not see any options to set up an account as in the past and now, MS is simply pushing MS account along with Skype account, thus, for me, this is not appropriate for many reasons,editorial comment:seems that if folks did not accept being herded, we could be heard but with billions of dollars involved, not one of us matters to MS so it can do as it pleases, so if MS does care, it will see this message and perhaps give me some option to talk to some human other than some chat person who has scripted messages and is not empowered and is simply doing as he or she is being told to do, monopolisitic businesses such as MS not by design but by the very nature of their business model causes issues for the customer but when the customer is not united, he or she is subject to being treated as MS wishes, and in this case, they simply poop on me and others,alterntives to Skype for business:alternative for us is GoToMeeting but it is not a messaging platform such as was Skype, Skype today is now part of the monolithic monetization model wherein any and all issues of privacy, customer service , etc. are irrelevant as the money rolls in and thus, that is the ruling force, this is not fault of MS per as once humans are under the control of any one entity, either church, state or business enterprise, the day to day masses lose out, so, in a practical sense, for us, we will simply abandon using Skype as in reality, business do not use it as the ports are rather open, and thus, a portal to the bad guys,can you help me out?: [email protected]if anyone has suggestions on how to contact MS Skype folks, let me know, or if you know how to set up an account like in the old days than let me know, office phone is 989 662 0377, I I simply want an account on Skype, nothing to do with MS account or anything else to do with MS, give it a password, and use it for phone calls and conference calling with a few folksAngela
- I had bought a smart TV primarily to chat with my relatives on it as big screen and the experience was brilliant, but since Skype(Microsoft just got up one morning and decided to remove it, what a shame) has completely removed itself from smart TV domain, I am looking forward to some other option which I can enjoy Skype again. please help
- It's been five years since this article was written, so it's pretty overdue for an update.Also, for the average person looking for a Skype alternative due to ongoing B.S. issues, eg, now you have to have an outlook account if you want to setup via email (screw that), Jitsi looks enticing. But, Jesus Christ, what an ordeal trying to find instructions on how to set it up for video calls. For such an advanced bunch of developers, their instructions are sparce at best and overly technical at worst. All I want is a step by step process of what to install and what to configure. No such luck.
- It seems that Skype no longer wants my money, whatever I try I can't put any credit on the account, so, gooodbye skype.
- I had been with Skype from nearly the start, after ownership transferred it started to go downhill. I have very unreliable connections, even though I have good bandwidth. Many calls are made up of multiple re connects, due to drop outs. Many times it is ringing out my end, and I later find that at the other end no call was received. My subscription funds just leaked away gradually, when I was not making paid calls. Customer service were always very anti customer and blamed me. The latest is a message to say that I had 1 month to make a paid call or my balance would be cleared to zero. I immediately made a paid call, to my own landline with call logged. They still cleared out my credit to zero. I WILL NOT SUBSCRIBE TO SKYPE AGAIN. I used to have paid phone numbers and various other subscription services, Skype have driven me away, I did not just pack up and leave, I was driven out.
- yea
- I'm very disappointed with Skype. They don’t care about Customer Service.
I’ve been with them during more than 10 years with the same subscription and because of a problem with the Credit Card I had loaded (it expired), instead of asking me to change the payment method, they cancelled my subscription (blaming me because of my problem) and they ask me to book a new subscription that is about 8% more expensive.
It is not a problem of money, Skype could have told me “we increase the price for the subscription”, but not. It is a horrible Customer Service attitude. They use the problem I have to blame me about it. They are saying “the system do not allow me to reactivate you subscription”. The “system”? The system belong to Skype, if the system is so rigid that is not allowing to take care of your customers, Skype should modify it. Skype is a technology company and must have hundred of programmers, so I’m sure one can modify a program that is not allowing you to reactivate a subscription that was active for more than 10 years. I told them, take your time to solve the problem, I’m not in a rush, but no way. They say that it is not possible.
This is an good example of how a company can make feel bad to a loyal customer. - All I know is that I've been using Skype in the last 5 years and it's getting worse comparing with the earlier period when I first start to use Skype. Skype video conferencing is constantly crashed. The forced update newer versions from Skype keep on crashing. I could not stop Skype from automatically update to a newer version. I have tried many different ways to no avail. Is anything out there better than what Skype (Microsoft) offering? I would like some video conferencing s/w that is more reliable than Skype. Everything was fine until Microsoft has its hands in it.
- Not Skype availability on TV? Time to jump ship- move to a competitor! I am ticked! Being using Skype since it was made available and now this! So much for loyalty! They are turning their backs on their loyal base!
- I totally agree. I bought a smart tv so I could skype with family and less than 3 months later they took away the tv availability. I'm ticked off and looking for another option.
- Can anyone advise what is a good alternative to skype. It no longer supports skype on TV's and I am really annoyed at this and the spin used to explain why they are no longer supporting skype on TV's. Bob R
- Me too!
- Does anyone know an option or program where I can buy an unlimited subscription to the USA with a USA phone #? That is all I want, nothing crazy.
Skype used to be so awesome at this option. Now each time I try to do it, they block my account and say it violates their terms. They advertise this is what they do, they take my money, and then they block me.
Customer service is a joke. They refer you to the 'community' each chance they get. There is no number to call and your lucky to get someone on IM chat. However, when that happens all they say is they have to forward your issue on to their superior, who may or may not get back to you.- google talk will call usa and canada numbers for free if you're in usa or canada.
- Beware of Hangouts. On Computers It REQUIRES chrome. You don't need to have chrome running to use hangouts, but it's still a requirement. Hangouts also has very large memory usage. 7 processes running on task manager just to use it and that's WITHOUT the browser being open during use (at least on win 10).Google Talk was beta for Google Hangouts. Don't bother trying to use Talk exclusively as. it simply won't happen. Talk was great but is no more. And Hangouts can sometimes be a memory hogging nightmare.MSN messenger/windows live/windows messenger whichever you prefer to call it was also integrated into Skype. Skype also has some severe security issues that were supposedly addressed but the unlocked backdoor into your system is still there. It's unlikely most people will get hit with it, but it's the reason I refuse to have Skype on any computer I own.
- Wire is the best !!!!!!
- SKYPE USED TO BE EXCELLENT, THE CALLS WERE CRYSTAL CLEAR, video was clear and unpixilated. but since Microsoft bought Skype the quality has plumetted! Now it takes up to 13 seconds for voice transmission to reach the other side, and another 13 seconds to hear what the respondent says. and video link is impossible. Yet Skype still hoggs masses of bandwidth. We had a service, I used to subscribe to Skype, make use of it for conference calls. I have not topped up my skype account for ages as I the quality of pay for service has become so low that I am not using it. I may even ask for a refund of the funds I have left.
- Dear Mr. Lee,I strongly disagree with you. Tell me one app which gives you unlimited calling on a monthly subscription basis. There is none. Skype is by far the best option available. There ar too many flaws in Skype but yet it is the best app so far. Hence please don't give misleading information to the users of the internet.
- should you not forget FB video calls. Now on webRTC it makes it the choice as sadly FB is similar to skype in terms of 'everyone has it'
- FB? Not! It records all your calls. :(
- Make sure to mention VSee. It uses half of the bandwidth of Skype and supports many features.
- I tried everything to make Skype work on my new computer. Ended by their techs saying I needed to add another program [fee] to make it work. NO THANKS. Now wanting to find better replacement.
- I have tired to get Skype without infections. However, this appears to be beyond the scope of Microsoft to rain in a bunch of coyboys. The security folks at Microsoft are out of touch with the problems they face and the contanmination of the skype servers. Five download attempts finally produced a skype load without contamination. Then updates came and withit viruses and hack software add ons.
No I do not care for the bowser add ons and the failed attempts of skype developeres to push crap. The fools fail to understand they have an obligation to Microsoft and no one else. Keep skype pure and I might tryit again until then kiss offl - The best alternative for home users is LINE , Japanese software with all the perks and also visually appealing. It works literally on every platform, Linux workaround might be a bit more tricky. Here is a linkUnfortunately all VOIP , video communication software does require reasonable data transfer, so don't blame application for poor performance if you area has bad reception.
- Microsoft has an amazing ability to screw up and destroy anything that the users like or enjoy that they acquire - Skype, Hotmail, MSN Messenger, etc. Window 8 is pushing the boundaries of how much you can annoy the users, adopting everything I detest about Apple from Apple ID (Windows Account), locking in MS Office, Skype and so on... extremely frustrating!
- Sadly, MS (Microsoft)) is doing itself no favours these days. Skype was really good until MS started to 'upgrae' it. Now it is a cumbersome mess. Because of the way MS is 'upgrading' its offerings these days, I no longer trust it as an organisation for helping me work 'my way' (and not working THEIR way). So maybe even the operating systems from MS Windows is becoming largely a commercial override on my life. I say all this after years of still using Windows for work and for use in my long retirement. In fact the whole internet now is becoming a commercial ocerride of of the lives of ordinary people.Watch out Microsoft -- there are options out there to all your ways of making money off your previously valued clients. It might be altogether better to go back to before the days of Windows. ?!
- Also, you forgot Apple's Facetime.
- Like other Google 'products' Voice is shovelware. I couldn't get it to work.
- Has been using Skype for several years. However, since they made +- $US 30 (NOK 200) disappear in a bank transaction late last year, we are not on friendly terms. ( I guess, since they ignore my attempts to get an explanation for this).
Nice to know that there are alternatives. - I had been using Skype for over 12 years, and just decided to delete my account (if possible!). My account was illegally accessed and my entire balance used to make calls to Cameroon. For two weeks, I have been trying to get Skype to simply tell me how my account was accessed (whether there were repeated tries at guessing my password or whether the person logged in on their first try, or whether they hacked their way into their systems some other way). The process has been infuriating. IMPOSSIBLE to get an answer, their constant reply : 'We are sorry for the inconvenience, however, Skype takes our customers' privacy and confidentiality very seriously, and therefore we cannot disclose this information due to our Skype Privacy Statement. This is the reason why we advised you to contact a member of the law enforcement agency with regards to your request.' Can anyone else see the irony? .And contacting the law enforcement to know whether someone illegally accessed my account on their first try? Seriously?. Avoid Skype at all cost.
- skype app has disappear from Finlux SmartTV .new owner: Microsoft delete it :(
- to be honest i can not believe NOT ONE SINGLE PERSON has mentioned that SKype TAKES and uses YOUR internet data stream, even if you are not USING Skype at that moment. I KNOW they do it VORACIOUSLY on cell phones, but i have not yet found a way to verify how much they do it on my PC. What I mean by this for the newbies is, when you install it, you agree that they can piggyback on your internet pipe to gain internet signal for other Skype users. So though YOU may only use it for an hour a day, Skype can use YOUR internet 24 hours a day. So if you have a limited data package as MOST cell phone users, and almost all Canadian home users do, they can and WILL use up you data limit. I currently am staying somewhere where i have VERY poor cell reception. Mail client for mac best to resolve repeat cox mailbox. I get ONLY one half of one bar signal. And I only have a mobile internet stick for internet right now. So I am unable to make online calls, I can only use skypes text feature.I just happened to have a page open the last few days that told me in real time how much data was going up n down my pipe. The friend I was speaking to is OFTEN slow to respond and can take 3-5 min to respond when i send him a text. I noticed that if he is responding within the first minute of me sending a text, like we are having an ACTIVE Skype text conversation, I get his response and he gets mine. The conversation goes on just fine. BUT, when he has these several minute delays in responding, Skype GRABS my internet pipe and HOGS it. The ohter night i monitored it and while my friend n I spoke I used all of 50mb data, up and down for one hour of TEXT ONLY conversation. BUT once they grabbed my pipe, I LITERALLY watched it eat up almost 250mb data in less than 45 min. Also leaving me with no ability to respond to my friend. Every text I sent was not going, they were all 'pending' as my internet just kept on clocking away. ( When I had only used 100mb ALL DAY LONG using my pc for other things) I tested this theory a few days in a row, and discovered that YES they are hijacking my signal, and I am SURE most people have no clue it is going on. I DO know they do it on cell phones EVEN when you do not have Skype open. I am not sure if they do on PCs, but as best I can tell, they don't. but it could simply be my limited connection preventing that. But my friend installed Skype on her cell phone last month JUST to text me, and low and behold Skype used 4 yes, FOUR GIGS of data. just in background data, she only texted me probably one 5 min conversation and closed the app when complete. SO BE AWARE OF HOW THESE COMPANIES USE YOUR INTERNET Bandwith. you can so easily get screwed. This is how i came upon this post is looking for someone to text thru who WONT hijack my ONE WHOLE HALF BAR of internet cpaacity! (Note, I AM a PAID skype user, with a PAID phone number AND a yr calling paid for to the USA. so one would think they would be TAKING signal from the freebies and giving it to ME, not the other way around!!)
- HELP.all I want to do is call my grandchildren in Florida. They are very young and hard to understand when using the telephone. This way, if we can both see each other on our computers it will almost be like talking to them in person. Im not interested in any other features and I dont want my family in Florida to have to pay for the call. I am confused now as to which one of the many alternatives to Skype should I consider using.
- Depending on what they would use for the call (iPhone, iPad, android, PC, Mac, etc.) you could use tox! It is completely free for both ends, no strings attached. Video calling currently only works on iOS devices (iPhone and iPad) and Windows. If this meets your needs, you can download it at tox.chat (be sure to download the right one for your device.)
- Is there any that work on an IPad?
- yes, face time.
- So I have a video conference on Wed. They like Skype. I tried to like it but I just hate that program with a passion. So I uninstalled it and put up a note on the forums where we were getting things set up. Not sure if there is an app out there that will allow for one user to use Skype while another uses another VoIP program and both can sync together. Is there such a VoIP program out there?
- Skype was alright until Microsoft got involved. It seems they're now more interested in taking your money a selling your data than proving a useable service
- Whilst I use Skype for work, I'm an online teacher, I much prefer 'Viber' another one you didn't add.Viber is stable, and as with anything to do with Microsoft Skype has become increasingly poor. Microsoft has always striven to produce 'over-engineered products' that generally lead to poor products for the end user.
- Can you use viber on the computer or smart tv or is it just for phones?
- Hi, Im looking for a service like this or skype that can be embedded into my site as if part of my site (design style etc), without having leave my site or open a seperate window to another company like skype, to any ideas?
- message totheA message to Skype people.
Every time you make an upgrade you make it worse no better why can't you get the basic's right and leave it alone, other wise your system would be wonderful also I find you are hard to get in contact with to explain my concern when I have any. Like when my computer crashed and I try to pick up where I left off Skype did not seem to understand or acknowledge my contact details that I had used earlier and responded that this information was already used by someone else and I couldn't have it. I am sure that this was mine from earlier. I find this very frustrating and confusing. - Help please. So Skype let's u buy a land line number that's then connected to your app on your phone. So I give that number to my friend and they call it and it comes through on the app over the internet. Who else does this? The connection is crap cuts in an out a fuzzy. I really need another option. For Samsung galaxy 4
- The Google Talk has this feature as well.
- I'm told there is a new one called Wire. I haven't tried it yet.
I haven't uninstalled Skype yet but I stopped using it because the new versions didn't work at all on my computer (Mac) and the old version I went back and installed has stopped working now as well. I actually came online tonight looking for whether there is a decent mac-friendly version again yet, but instead I find all these alternatives to try out.
Thanks everyone! :) - Have you tried LINE?It's the only one I know of that has at least most of the features of Skype and is also available on Windows 8. It doesn't have video chat, but it has calling, messaging and all of that stuff.
- I am looking for an extremely cheap way, hopefully less than $0.01 US per minute to make a conference call to (primitive) cellphones in Thailand. I can use my computer or my primitive cell phone.
- Line has video chat
- hats off to that person who has made this website. it might have taken lots of pain in researching to make this website. but beware microsoft is watching. first it will disable your website, then ruin your business. have you guys seen one thing? when you do google search like forum skype you get only results of skype forums on the top and you cannot put your views in other places and after seeing the first page people run away. because by that time either they forget what they came for and could not find what they wanted. So this is skype. And when you start using skype they disable your account under some reasons. whatever it is keep your good work.
- I am becoming disenchanted with Skype. I had subscribed ton them primarily for business calls and I have found that they do not not put through a lot of the 1-8xx-xxx-xxxx toll free numbers in Canada or The USA. What are the experiences of toll free numbers with the Skype alternatives,Danny
- Reflap is another alternative. It's a web based voip video chat website. When ou register you create your personal call address and anyone that knows it can call you using your call address. http://www.reflap.com
- I like the idea but just played the first vid in their FAQ section . have to say, sadly, that the sound and picture quality were poor. Is that meant to encourage us?
- back to refer a comment of Paul -G
I think what he meant and with a good point is
that if i like to choose to use as provider lets say still government controlled now Skype or google hang out etc.
but my friend uses lets say maybe Tango or any other open- source Voip provider
I could not put them in my contact friends list and connect with them over voipThis only landlines can do and you might be.maybe as well more protected from someone
listening in and violating your privacy.it would be great if I could have my FREE choice of voip provider
without pressing my friends to change as well!!!
and see them in my contact list attached to the icon of THEIR FREE CHOSEN voip provider.Another sign that a FREE MARKET and FREE CHOICE is going down the hill
nicely covered by entertainment chit chats etcCool would be if all the open-source Voip Providers agree with each other
setting up this possibility of INTEGRATION and COLLABORATION in between them as well
and want to continue a FREE MARKET leaving their customers truly a FREE CHOICE. - Nice alternativees. Thanks for sharing
- While I do primarily use SKype for it's HD quality (better than most alternatives), one other that I've found is Zoom.us. The great part about that is while you have to download the software, you DON'T have to log in to join a call. So the person initiating the call signs in (via Facebook/G+) and gets a link to send out to other people wanting to join. So far it's worked well for technically inept people like my parents/sister who aren't ready to sign up for a new service like G+ just to enjoy group video chat. Just a thought.
- I would rather TANGO and give SKYPE a skip. :P :D
- To Skype Or Not To Skype.I'm Skype and I totally agree Skype used to have the un challenged guaranted number one slot..HOWEVER..What has made me start to look for alternatives is its RECENT.???(2012 Anyways) STUPID CHANGE, whereby BOTH parties have to be connect at the same time to send/recieve a skype 'Computer' text message.In the good old days you could send your message to your contact.EXAMPLE...[ Sunday Fancy A Chat At 2pm ]
EXAMPLE 2..[ You say have a look at this link www>>Hyperlink Example ]The message would wait/stored until your contact next logged-on and then they would recieve it.BUT NOW you both have to be connected at the same time just to recieve OR send said message.Grrrrrr Grrrrr ^@@@%%^ <@And yes I know E-Mail exists but the Skype feature WAS quick, very quick and very good for 'your' offline message delivery.My problem now is even if I do find something better than Skype, as Paul-G points out above. I have to convince my contacts to also install that particular VOIP service.If you want to reply to my comment, imagine if you could only do so when we are both online AND connected to //www.makeuseof.com at the same time.lol - Most of my friends are Skype users , now I can recommend them other ones.
- I'm going to have to check out Google Hangouts as I haven't tried it yet. Tango is pretty good, too, though.
- Thanks for this I will be conferencing on hangouts later!
- Dell Voice is also one of them that you can use for free calling on your iPhone or iPod.
- Skype stills works great for me, and it is still free. Screen sharing is great, too.
- doh! how's that screen sharing working out for ya now? M$ took it out as well a group calling and made it a pay feature.woohoo
- I'm using screen share as we speak. still free, not a paid feature.
- Fring too is good for mobile phones.
- i personally support Brosix. It is great alternative to Skype. It is ad-free, free of charge and has much more pre-installed features than Skype. It does a great job !
- Skype is pretty good ,I used it to replace my mom's Magicjack that failed .
Its pretty reliable too. I will try out these other programs that were mentioned. - Skype has its roots way deep, so it is almost impossible to replace it from #1 slot. The next best are Google & ooVoo in my view.Given the availability of Skype Phones (parents have one) it becomes very easy for me to call them, without them having to bring up the laptop, connect a headset, mic, etc.
- Another is the Chinese 'QQ.' Only major problem is their site is ALL in Chinese with little to zero English versions or English 'help' pages..and depending on the signal strengths, can be disruptive at times..
- nimbuzz also is great
- https://yellowpaul.weebly.com/thirsty-script-font-download-mac.html. We use ooVoo at work. It has worked great for us so far.
- Love Hangout but most of my friends still use Skype they don't use Hangout yet.
- I don't have enough friends who would use Google services enough to use Hangouts. :) My in-law families like using ooVoo but personally, I wouldn't bother installing an app if there are web alternatives like Google's.
- I totally agree!
- Hangouts is great
- and you can register directally to youtube!
- The problem with all of them . you have to get your friends to use it as well. That is the real tricky part on it! :-(
- If you use a land-line or mobile you can call ANY other land-line or mobile.Until VOIP can do the same it will never get the take-up.
- VOIP lets you call areound the world for free. which land line does not.
Some might, but I've rarely seen a landline company say : call to china for free. it's more like 30c/min of callingPlus with Skype you can also call a land line, with for a very low fee, and even cellphones.- I agree but how many VOIP services can call every other VOIP service?That is the issue that needs to be addressed. Without that key component it is like every land-line company and mobile service in the world being isolated.
- Using Talkatone, you can call any phone number in the US and Canada.for free. If you are not in the US or Canada.oh well.
- Sorry Johnny5 but a lot of VOIP services can 'call out' to landlines.The key issue is - how many VOIP clients can call a VOIP user on another network? Can any of the above services call a user on a different VOIP service? How many can connect to ALL of the others?
- Paul-G, if you embrace open standards (in this case, like SIP or XMPP/Jabber) then any software that can use that protocol can call any other program. It's Skype that has the proprietary protocol, which is the main reason not to use it.
- How did you miss Tango and Talkatone?
- Not sure how you missed Tango and Talkatone.