As the title says, not possible to buy Skype credits, only a subscription.  Any alternatives for calling landlines?

That's bad news

I do have an annual subscription and it allows me to call the US unlimited for $30 a year, that's a pretty good deal. I believe that I also have to pay for the number on an annual basis too, but I use it a lot, so it's worth it. I haven't found any viable alternatives to it that make more sense financially. The only downside to a Skype in number is the lack of a voicemail, that was a boneheaded decision. I have no idea why they did that. 

 

Fanytel is also a decent way to make and receive calls. But I only use that for business related stuff as nearly all my personal calls are done on WhatsApp, Line, or Facebook Messenger

I, and my 5 Family Members, each get 100 minutes per month to almost anywhere with my 365 Subscription.

Hope that continues.

38 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

That's bad news

Yeah, it must be terrible. They have monthly subscriptions for only a couple of dollars. Please, go ahead. What is soo bad?

19 minutes ago, Gottfrid said:

Yeah, it must be terrible. They have monthly subscriptions for only a couple of dollars. Please, go ahead. What is soo bad?

Can't you work it out? Pointless having a subscription when you call a few times a year

1 hour ago, stubuzz said:

As the title says, not possible to buy Skype credits, only a subscription.  Any alternatives for calling landlines?

 

Calling landlines from where? Take a look at https://www.localphone.com

1 hour ago, stubuzz said:

As the title says, not possible to buy Skype credits, only a subscription.  Any alternatives for calling landlines?

Yolla app looks ok, can buy credit

4 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Yolla app looks ok, can buy credit

Yolla is up to ten times more expensive than Localphone, to the U.K.

 

Yolla: 

Mobile

from $0.10/min

Landline

from $0.06/min

 

Localphone:

Landlines	All Landlines	0.6¢
Mobiles	All Networks	2.3¢

32 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Can't you work it out? Pointless having a subscription when you call a few times a year

 

Just checked as I used it a few times.

 

30 minutes per month 1.69USD. So subscribe for 1 month then cancel. Inconvenient, but dirt cheap.

1 minute ago, Celsius said:

 

Just checked as I used it a few times.

 

30 minutes per month 1.69USD. So subscribe for 1 month then cancel. Inconvenient, but dirt cheap.

For UK it's £7.99 a month

10 minutes ago, AlwaysThere said:

Yolla is up to ten times more expensive than Localphone, to the U.K.

 

Yolla: 

Mobile

from $0.10/min

Landline

from $0.06/min

 

Localphone:

Landlines	All Landlines	0.6¢
Mobiles	All Networks	2.3¢

This app? Gets bad reviews

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

I do have an annual subscription and it allows me to call the US unlimited for $30 a year, that's a pretty good deal. I believe that I also have to pay for the number on an annual basis too, but I use it a lot, so it's worth it. I haven't found any viable alternatives to it that make more sense financially. The only downside to a Skype in number is the lack of a voicemail, that was a boneheaded decision. I have no idea why they did that. 

 

Fanytel is also a decent way to make and receive calls. But I only use that for business related stuff as nearly all my personal calls are done on WhatsApp, Line, or Facebook Messenger

Just had a look. It says; 'Skype number no longer available'. Presumably existing customers such as yourself will continue to be able to use and renew your annual subscriptions to rent your geographical landline number?

1 minute ago, scubascuba3 said:

This app? Gets bad reviews

 

I actually use it.  Why not test it yourself. for free. instead of wasting time searching the Internet?

7 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

For UK it's £7.99 a month

 

No, it isn't. It's £1.20 for 30 minutes.

28 minutes ago, AlwaysThere said:

 

No, it isn't. It's £1.20 for 30 minutes.

The price i quoted was for Skype

MY TELLO

 

 

 

Google it.

 

 

Good service and cheap as chips

9 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

The price i quoted was for Skype

 

Yes, I know and you were wrong. From £1 + VAT.

 

7 minutes ago, AlwaysThere said:

 

Yes, I know and you were wrong. From £1 + VAT.

 

It's what the Skype app is showing me, no alternative, maybe website is different . What does the app show you?

5 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

It's what the Skype app is showing me, no alternative, maybe website is different . What does the app show you?

 

I haven't installed the application. Why would I?

 

Exactly the same via my Smartphone's Browser.

 

13 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

It's what the Skype app is showing me, no alternative, maybe website is different . What does the app show you?

 

Apart from that, I am offered 400 minutes for £5 + VAT. 

1 hour ago, scubascuba3 said:

Can't you work it out? Pointless having a subscription when you call a few times a year

Indeed, I use Skype only to call banks or the government, it would be once per couple of months.

 

 

34 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

It's what the Skype app is showing me, no alternative, maybe website is different . What does the app show you?

 

You can search for any specific country.

 

 

Looks like they're letting me use up my remaining credit, but aren't giving the option of buying more - only the subscription.  Bit of a bummer that, with credit, I could call multiple countries, but now it appears I have to get a subscription for each specific one.  Microsoft seem determined to push everyone into a 365 subscription.

Some issues now with Skype might be due to Skype is now owned by Microsoft. As the story goes, MS introduced Team as a competitor to Skype but Skype remained much more popular.  So it might be a business strategy by MS purchase of Skype to establish practices that would drive Skype users to use Team.

12 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Yolla app looks ok, can buy credit

It has a glitch in headphone/speaker/bluetooth  function that's been annoying lately. Otherwise it's good and lets you set an ID number from anywhere in the world, so I dial my home town it looks like a local call to the receiver. 

 

I used skype for years, then Microsoft bought it and it went downhill. The phone app is a pig with sluggish response on my phone. Maybe not the same for other brands of phone. 

Renewed my subscription in Nov, automatically, costing £9.67 a year for unlimited UK landline calls.

12 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

It's what the Skype app is showing me, no alternative, maybe website is different . What does the app show you?

UK Prices from my skype app (version 8.133.0.202)

 

Thanks everyone, some great tips in this thread.

Talkatone lets you call US landlines and cell numbers for free, and will give you a virtual number that you can maintain as long as you use it once in a while.