KhunHeineken

You are in China, one of the most heavily censored and surveilled countries in the world. Something, or nothing to hide, privacy is something you can't put a price on in such countries, speed or no speed, but that's just my opinion.

If / when China moves on Taiwan, or, it kicks off in The South China Sea, which side do you think Thailand will take? Will Thailand let China use their airbases and sea ports, or let America use them, once again? If they side with China, that draws Thailand into the war. Interesting times ahead.

Same advice. Try a few different agents.

They want to make sure the Two Factor Authentication (2FA) names on the sim card and on the bank account are the same for OTP's. It decreases the possibility of fraud.

Be thankful you can visit any branch to update your personal details, and not the branch where you opened the account. Imagine the inconvenience that would have caused.

How many banks / branches did you try? As another member said, try a few others If all else fails, use an "agent" to open an account. Yes, I know you don't want to pay an agent, but at least the job gets done.

I guess it's only "the fittest" in the crowd at the MCG today. https://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/australian-economy/survival-of-the-fittest-australia-no-longer-the-lucky-country/news-story/bd6f5241e8709dc6e6e0536acfbabfa3

Will you be going to the embassy in Bangkok to vote against it? Oh, I forgot, both major political parties agree with the changes.

Once again, I am posting in general, and not to your specific requirements. Some may need a mixture of different products. Eg. Viber for free voice and video, and another product for a local country number. Some are happy with credit / minutes, while some need an unlimited subscription because they either make many calls, or talk a long time, or both. Each to there own. Can you put forward a product that is closer to Skype than Viber, as a one stop shop, the way Skype is? Yes, Viber is missing a local number feature. I believe they used to offer it but stopped offering it. They may offer it again with the shutting down of Skype.

Express VPN. Ran by the CIA, and in bed with the UAE government. Plenty on the net about it. Here's a couple of articles. https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/expressvpn-cio-among-three-facing-1-6-million-doj-fine-project-raven/ https://cybernews.com/news/expressvpn-cio-daniel-gericke-fined-335-000-for-cyber-espionage/

Why make you living in Thailand your daughter's problem? Chose a company that offers a local number and cheap credit / minutes. You've been given some options. They are not expensive.

Have you noticed the dial pad has changed on the Skype app for PC today?

Ahhhh, so the "haves" are ok, but as for the "have nots" well, who cares about them. Sounds similar to a 3rd World Country.

Yes. Can be used on Window PC and on Android a Apple. I believe Viber did offer this, but to my knowledge, they no longer offer it. However, with Skype shutting down, I suspect many of these Skype alternatives will offer all the features that Skype offered. I would not be surprised to see Viber offer it again. What VPN are you using?

It appears they have announced the shut down date before they have prepared for the shut down. I'll be using the web portal. I will not be using Teams.

So not a complete Skype alternative then. What's the benefit of that when living in Thailand? (I note you said "within" and not "to") Many don't use Facebook due to privacy reasons.

Some members are more frequent users, and some are heavy users. I am posting "in general" not about your specific circumstances, because like you said, "who cares" about your specific circumstances.

Wrong. Viber also offers credit / minutes. I don't know what country you are from, so I just chose USA. $4.99USD for 239 minutes, but if you call $1.99USD a month for unlimited minutes to the USA, that's $23.88USD a year to call as many times as you want, and talk as long as you want, expensive, well, what can I say? https://account.viber.com/en/call-usa Viber offers the same. Check out the above link.

If you have an Android phone, Google knows everything anyway.

Aren't you going to add all your contacts from your contact list to Viber so you can call them anyway? If that's an issue, add them, then delete them. Weren't all your contacts in Skype?

Viber is the closest product to Skype I could find. It functions the same way, and has all the same features as Skype, and very competitive pricing. Microsoft Teams looks and feels nothing at all like Skype. I will not be using Teams.

What it means is, Viber is the closest, and I'll say that again, the closest alternative to Skype that I can see. Simple as that. It's a simple download, across different device platforms, and is a one stop shop like Skype. Viber has all the features of Skype. Free voice and video call, pre paid credit / minutes that do not expire, single country unlimited subscriptions, and multiple country unlimited subscriptions. I did not say Viber was the cheapest. I said it was the closest to Skype that I could find. If you know of something closer, please post it, but it's not MyTello. MyTello does not offer unlimited subscriptions, and does not offer free voice and video. Many members like to see their kids and grand kids. Not to mention, their calls to Australia are expensive when compared to other providers.

The installation process would be fine for me, but some older folk, or those not so tech minded, may struggle with the install. However, nothing wrong with putting forward all alternatives in these Skype threads.

Sure, but even if the member lives in a village in Issan, what's wrong with some cheap flights and a couple of days in Bangkok?

Yes, the sugar babies are cheaper in Thailand than in Australia.