Skype to be shutdown in May

[Captor]

On 3/1/2025 at 12:11 AM, scubascuba3 said:

Can't use Line to call landlines or mobiles.

 

Kinda explains why Skype stopped the top up option, subscription only until they close

As far I can see you can use line for landline calls only if you have a subscription. Is that not correct? 

[Captor]

On 3/1/2025 at 2:06 AM, simon43 said:

This is bad news for some of my online students in Myanmar.  Due to the international bandwidth restrictions imposed by the junta, for an online video/audio lesson. one needs to use an application that uses a minimal bandwidth as possible. 

 

Skype meets that requirement.  Zoom and Voov require more bandwidth, and ClassIn is unbelievably greedy/wasteful of bandwidth  (I know - I've done tests on all these apps...)

Maybe try out Signal?

[GreasyFingers]

On 3/2/2025 at 12:39 PM, SMIAI said:

 

For the Truemove H Tourist SIM, it is correct. Whether it works on other TRUE/DTAC SIM now, I do not know.

It an be a time limited offer. Over the years it has worked sometimes. at others I am not sure what they charged as True does not give a detailed usage for pre paid.

[LittleBear57]

Shame it's going, it's been really helpful for me sorting out my private pension issues. 20 to 30 calls over a six month period. Called HMRC on it  several times this past year and kept waiting on the line for some time , very cheap so it didn't matter. Also had an issue when I had to call about the UK government pension several times again long queues for staff all cost less than 20 quid must have been on the phone for hours, in total. Also had a few calls to my bank in the UK. 

I use messenger or WhatsApp  for personal calls to mobiles but that's no good for business. 

[LittleBear57]

On 2/28/2025 at 11:49 PM, PomPolo said:

Skype was Sht anyways used it a few times to make phone calls to landlines but many other viable, cheaper and reliable options.

So what are they?

[fvw53]

On 3/1/2025 at 12:42 AM, Crossy said:

It had to come 😞 

 

It's really bad news for my parents, we've been using Skype for our weekly chats for something like 25 years!

 

Both are now in their 90s and dad is registered blind so getting used to something new, isn't going to be easy 😞 

 

Possibly Whatsapp would be easier than getting to grips with Teams.

 

Luckily my sister lives local to them and is tech savvy. She'll do the necessary.

Whatsapp cannot be used like Skype to make (prepaid) calls to landlines of my two sisters (89 and 91) /  I hope there will be alternatives to make calls from PC to landlines

[BadBouy]

 

you can port  your existing # to www.twilio.com

 

[BadBouy]

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/shopping?q=tbn:ANd9GcSIHaoyZiFkN1dwi5-JC247BJzCQiKlTqK6YLGgifzw9j3ViAmSu6-PFSCDlcPDn0BR92WIcIjXxfe2-9SrmOnHtBem5Vl2AY5YO3S7LX5ASvX5sAKj2I_1ww

[Hardcastle P]

On 2/28/2025 at 11:49 PM, PomPolo said:

Skype was Sht anyways used it a few times to make phone calls to landlines but many other viable, cheaper and reliable options.

And they are?

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

I decided I needed a US phone number enough to justify the $99 lifetime subscription to Phone2. Since Viber can't provide a US number, I'll let my 59 baht per month subscription to Viber Out expire at the end of this month. Viber Out did work for outgoing calls, however.

 

I was paying Skype a total of about $70 per year for a Skype Number together with an annual subscription for unlimited calls to US landlines and mobiles. I've tested Phone2 for both outgoing and incoming calls and it works just fine. I'll break even if Phone2 lasts for 18 months.

 

I don't presently have a need for 2FA via SMS from financial institutions, so I can't say whether Phone2's claims that their incoming SMS service works for financial institutions' 2FA are valid.

[KhunHeineken]

On 3/1/2025 at 2:22 AM, Galong said:

Exactly! MS has dropped the ball big time... again! Disappointing customers is a trend with them. 

Yes, other VOIP companies will reap the benefits... now to find just the right one.  🤔

A lot of the VOIP providers have a lot of bells and whistles, basically catering to the business market. 

 

Personal users do not need or want all the bells and whistles.  They just want a simple call / video program / app that is easy to set up and use.  This is particularly relevant for the elderly, and their younger relatives who set it up for them. 

 

They don't want to know about linking and syncing, and all the other bells and whistles. 

 

The race to offer the most bells and whistles isolates a big part of the market that don't want them, nor require them, thus only confuses them, and ultimately loses them as customers. 

[ChaiyaTH]

8 hours ago, KhunHeineken said:

A lot of the VOIP providers have a lot of bells and whistles, basically catering to the business market. 

 

Personal users do not need or want all the bells and whistles.  They just want a simple call / video program / app that is easy to set up and use.  This is particularly relevant for the elderly, and their younger relatives who set it up for them. 

 

They don't want to know about linking and syncing, and all the other bells and whistles. 

 

The race to offer the most bells and whistles isolates a big part of the market that don't want them, nor require them, thus only confuses them, and ultimately loses them as customers. 

This is no issue at all, that will already be provided within Teams when the transition takes place, as I mentioned twice before in this topic. Same this is already available on Google Voice alternatively as well. Nobody else needs VOIP, this is some old people chit chat talk. People use simply Whatsapp or FB call for that.

 

Seems some people and many people here are so bored in life that they want to discuss and debate small things that are decided or solved already.

[ChaiyaTH]

13 hours ago, Captor said:

As far I can see you can use line for landline calls only if you have a subscription. Is that not correct? 

Incorrect, can call any landline or mobile numbers just depends what you pay for.

[jerrymahoney]

I used SKYPE for 20+ years even before moving to Thailand. But a NY Times article said that SKYPE has gone from 300 million users in 2016 to 36 million users in 2023.

TEAMS has now has 320 million users per the article.

[LivingNThailand]

I put Team on my iphone yesterday and for the life of me I cannot figure out how to make a phone call.   I signed in with my skype email.  Is this just an announcement and not ready yet?  I'm not super tech savvy, but I can usually figure things out like this.  Thank you for any advise you can give me.

[wasabi]

On 3/2/2025 at 3:10 PM, Jingthing said:

Yes, now that I have fallen for the 99 dollar "lifetime" deal I am realizing that their heavily promoted 2FA capabiity is not to be counted on. The 2FA was what originally attracted them to me so I'm less than satisfied. I do think there is a good chance they'll be around for a long time because of their main area, larger scale BUSINESS applications. So I haven't decided whether to even try to get a refund yet (30 day window) because I'm skepitcal they'd honor it and also having just the voice number is worth at least something to me.

The people saying "too good to be true" were not far off.

On the other hand, it's not worthless either.

 

I've been using the $129 Phone2 Pro plan for a few days now. My only need is to call US landlines. It works but the call quality can be inconsistent on the Android app. I've been having some trouble getting the sound to work when using the website Phone2 website on Edge but it works pretty well on Firefox. I may have set it up wrong when I first logged into Edge because I noticed on Firefox it asked if I wanted to use the Phone2 website for sound vs other Windows system options, and I clicked yes. I didn't see that option when logging into Edge the first time. Overall it works but it's buggy and the settings are scattered across browser, app and Phone2 preferences. Support is nonexistent So yes it works but I preferred the simplicity and consistency of Skype. As you and others have said I have zero expectation I'd get a refund so I'm to keep it as a backup and keep looking for a better option. I can't say I recommend it, but it does work.

[Captor]

5 hours ago, ChaiyaTH said:

Incorrect, can call any landline or mobile numbers just depends what you pay for.

Yeah...thats what I wrote...

[The Fugitive]

4 hours ago, LivingNThailand said:

I put Team on my iphone yesterday and for the life of me I cannot figure out how to make a phone call.   I signed in with my skype email.  Is this just an announcement and not ready yet?  I'm not super tech savvy, but I can usually figure things out like this.  Thank you for any advise you can give me.

Can't find the dial pad? Same here! Apparently it won't appear until May. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/moving-from-skype-to-microsoft-teams-free-3c0caa26-d9db-4179-bcb3-930ae2c87570

[LivingNThailand]

19 minutes ago, The Fugitive said:

Can't find the dial pad? Same here! Apparently it won't appear until May. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/moving-from-skype-to-microsoft-teams-free-3c0caa26-d9db-4179-bcb3-930ae2c87570

thanks.  I was wondering if that was the case.  It sounds like if they cut off Skype  and force everyone to use a new app all on the same day...sounds like a bit of a disaster.  Hopefully I won't have any emergency calls in May and can ride out the confusion.

It was also unclear (at least to me) if they are still going to offer the top off credit every $10.  Get down to $1 credit and they auto top off another $10.   Did you figure that out?  

[BritManToo]

12 minutes ago, LivingNThailand said:

thanks.  I was wondering if that was the case.  It sounds like if they cut off Skype  and force everyone to use a new app all on the same day...sounds like a bit of a disaster.  Hopefully I won't have any emergency calls in May and can ride out the confusion.

It was also unclear (at least to me) if they are still going to offer the top off credit every $10.  Get down to $1 credit and they auto top off another $10.   Did you figure that out?  

Just cancelled my subscription, I only wanted the UK landline number, which will no longer be available.

[jerrymahoney]

From the above LINK:

Additionally, we will no longer offer paid Skype features to new customers. The Skype Dial Pad will be available starting in May to existing paid users from the Skype web portal and within Teams Free.

In Skype, you will receive a notification which will prompt you to sign in to Microsoft Teams. Select Start using Teams to begin downloading or to open Teams if already installed.

[The Fugitive]

47 minutes ago, LivingNThailand said:

It was also unclear (at least to me) if they are still going to offer the top off credit every $10.  Get down to $1 credit and they auto top off another $10.   Did you figure that out?

I haven't looked any further. I only used Skype for calling 0800 numbers and, occasionally, subscribing to an unlimited minutes package when having difficulties with various organisations. Therefore, I never had a credit balance with Skype.

[The Fugitive]

52 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Just cancelled my subscription, I only wanted the UK landline number, which will no longer be available.

You may already have checked this out but LocalPhone provides both geographical and mobile numbers. Incoming SMS only works for UK numbers but that would be OK for you. Ideally, you don't want to have to change your Skype geograpical landline number. I believe it is possible to port it to LocalPhone. Otherwise, Vyke is most reliable in my experience and also accepts number porting. They only offer mobile numbers for rent.

[wadman]

As a Canadian I use Fongo World.

 

You get a local Canadian number. Pay as you go, with very reasonable rates for outgoing calls. Make a call every 30 days, to prevent the account from going dormant, and they ding you 5 dollars (I think that's the amount).

 

Incoming SMS are not free (except from spammers, lol), but you can sign up for that at 4 dollars a month. Works for 2FA SMS.

 

Although I don't use my account often at all (maybe 10 times a year), it's still a necessity for my banking. This provides a very low cost solution for me.