Replacement for Skype (to call UK only)

[VBF]

19 hours ago, bunnydrops said:

If you go back and forth and need a phone while in the UK, you might give Lycamobile a look. I am from the US and use them $19 a month, free calling to and from Thailand. They also operate in the UK. Calls to your UK number will ring in Thailand, works with banks.

https://www.lycamobile.co.uk/en/

Lycamobile is a typical UK mobile  Mobile company and utilises the EE network for its mobile services.

 

I presume this is the PAYG plan you chose? https://www.lycamobile.co.uk/paymonthly/en/product-details/24-Month-Unlimited-Plus

If so, note that the cost doubles from £12 to £24.00 monthly after 6 months. 

 

 

[JakeC]

Quote

Lycamobile is a typical UK mobile  Mobile company and utilises the EE network for its mobile services.

 

I presume this is the PAYG plan you chose? https://www.lycamobile.co.uk/paymonthly/en/product-details/24-Month-Unlimited-Plus

If so, note that the cost doubles from £12 to £24.00 monthly after 6 months. 

 

 

I think that you might be confused. That clearly states Pay Monthly, so it isn't PAYG.

[bunnydrops]

5 hours ago, VBF said:

Lycamobile is a typical UK mobile  Mobile company and utilises the EE network for its mobile services.

 

I presume this is the PAYG plan you chose? https://www.lycamobile.co.uk/paymonthly/en/product-details/24-Month-Unlimited-Plus

If so, note that the cost doubles from £12 to £24.00 monthly after 6 months. 

 

 

As I said I am a US customer, and things may be a bit different in pricing. With Lyca, I use two SIMs in my phone when in Thailand, one a Thai SIM for local calls and the Lyca with a home country number. Calls to the home country number ring on my phone in Thailand via AIS.

[VBF]

4 hours ago, JakeC said:

 

I think that you might be confused. That clearly states Pay Monthly, so it isn't PAYG.

Correct - I mistyped  - sorry ☹

[VBF]

3 minutes ago, bunnydrops said:

As I said I am a US customer, and things may be a bit different in pricing. With Lyca, I use two SIMs in my phone when in Thailand, one a Thai SIM for local calls and the Lyca with a home country number. Calls to the home country number ring on my phone in Thailand via AIS.

OK - I homed in on the "go back and forth and need a phone while in the UK..." and assumed you set it all up in UK just as a UK resident might - I'm not doing very well in this thread - apologies  

[cjinchiangrai]

Teams sucks for placing an audio phone call. I don't need a video conference ,just a phone call. Skype was great, Teams is useless.

[KhunHeineken]

On 5/27/2025 at 2:35 PM, cjinchiangrai said:

Teams sucks for placing an audio phone call. I don't need a video conference ,just a phone call. Skype was great, Teams is useless.

Teams is mainly for business use, not the individual. 

 

As a Skype alternative, I agree, it's useless. 

 

Here's another Microsoft own goal. 

 

https://www.news.com.au/technology/online/security/users-to-act-now-or-lose-all-their-passwords-forever-in-system-switch/news-story/42c71b3e1646844d7bdfb5b514c6223d

 

Already reading on forums that many will just mover to the Google authenticator.   

[cjinchiangrai]

20 minutes ago, KhunHeineken said:

Teams is mainly for business use, not the individual. 

 

As a Skype alternative, I agree, it's useless. 

 

Here's another Microsoft own goal. 

 

https://www.news.com.au/technology/online/security/users-to-act-now-or-lose-all-their-passwords-forever-in-system-switch/news-story/42c71b3e1646844d7bdfb5b514c6223d

 

Already reading on forums that many will just mover to the Google authenticator.   

Phone2 looks pretty good.

[KhunHeineken]

On 5/31/2025 at 12:48 PM, cjinchiangrai said:

Phone2 looks pretty good.

Phone2 is more expensive than most, and appears to be for business, rather than the individual. 

[Greenside]

I've been on the same journey as the OP and finally found a workable solution.  For the last month or so I've been using LocalPhone as the VOIP provider with the 3CX softphone on my Win10 PC. Setup could have been easier but Localphone support was excellent - mercifully free of chatbots and staffed by people who went out of their way to understand my (occasionally dumb) questions. Particular thanks go to Alan Smith and Rikki Agustin.  I deposited £10 as initial credit as I have a UK bank account (you can choose USD, EUR or GBP but can't change after the initial transfer).
Today I received my first detailed statement by email:  29 UK calls since May11th, amounting to almost two and a half hours - 27 were to landlines and almost half of them were non-geographic numbers such as 0345 and 0870(even Skype was picky about those!). My account shows a credit balance of £7.40( I need to confirm that is a "live figure") but as as it includes the the £1.50 cost of getting a virtual UK number for the caller ID I think the cost per minute is looking good.