Skype, the popular program that lets its users make long-distance calls using their computers, said today that software problems have left many of its millions of users were without service worldwide.
It was not immediately clear how many users were affected, but Skype users in Colombia, Brazil, Germany, Finland and the United States reported difficulties logging on.
Phew! Hope they don’t get as unreliable as, say, Qworst.
For Kindle and with free ePub version. Only $9.49 Great reading.
Here is what Gary Shapiro CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) said: Dvorak's writing sings with insight and clarity. Whether or not you agree with John's views, he will get you thinking and is never boring. These essays are worth the read!
Subscribe to Main Blog feed here:
Subscribe to Comments too (below):
Bad Behavior has blocked 5027 access attempts in the last 7 days.
I didn’t put on Twitter that my Skype isn’t working, cause ppl would think: It’s probably him… 😉 Interesting enough, no one else of my Twitter buddies seems to have the problem either!
Add Canada to that list…
…and Sweden.
Portugal too.
And Taiwan
Oh and both users in the Netherlands too…
It’s also weird that my Skype credit is different, when I use a different computer on my LAN…
#6, Do I understand from your comment that there are only two Skype users in the Netherlands…??? 😉
#7 LOL nah, should be a couple more 😉
Please! there is nothing to be concerned about! Skype Inc. assures us at http://heartbeat.skype.com/ that their services are “All working normally”.
In fact, Skype is totally down the toilet here. Does not work for bupkes.
Skype have made complete fools out of themselves, and their customers. Dvorak is right. Remote applications are INHERENTLY vulnerable.
I read three stories about this problem (not issue) none of which mentioned that there was planned maintenance done just before the problem started to be reported. Sounds like it ought to be news to me:”UPDATE: The planned maintenance was completed at 15.08.2007 7:10 GMT and now all systems work normally again.”
Speaking of VoIP…
John C wrote a nice piece about Vonage years ago – prior to Skype – on how you can be in another country and receive and make all your home phone calls in your hotel room – for free (aside from the usual phone bill) and no mucking about with computers. Plug in the VoiP box to the broadband connection and a normal phone is all you need.
I have been using Vonage for ages now in China and have a St Paul telephone number. It freaks out my family when they pick their phone and call as they know I am in China and they can’t still get over how good it is and its a local call both ways. Even with Chinese ADSL which is slow as…well something really slow, and the firewall it still works great. Except last December for a few weeks after the Taiwan quake cut off Asia from the Internet.
Funny thing just happened, I just got a call from my bank in America wanting me to get a visa card and the girl asked me how the weather is in St Paul. I replied I wouldn’t have a clue I am in Shanghai …silence…Oh do you mean Shanghai Minnesota? She asked….No I replied the I’m in the Chinese one…..more silence then she asked how is the weather there and launched right into the script! LOL
I hear Skype is good – except not right at this moment of course. I understand that Skype can be used without a computer.
What features does it have?
Vonage has the same features that a phone would have; CID, Call Waiting, Conference, Call Forwarding, Voice mail with email notifications, unlimited USA national calls (Canada too I think – not sure) and unlimted calls to select European countries like Italy – $30 a month.
It might be interesting to compare the two (not withstanding the current problem of course) Maybe Skype is better – I haven’t used it.
I am guessing John C still has his Vonage – would he switch to Skype?
Cheers
Tihz_ho
go to the site and check it out. Skype promises flat rate calls to landlines and free PC to PC…
http://www.skipe.com (well duh…)
Back up and running in northern NM.
Oops! Gone, again.
Ebay’s acquiring Skype spelled the end of Skype. How many people are going to accept Ebay as their phone company? Seriously.
Oh.. and they jacked up rates:
Was 30 euros for a year (phone number), now 50 euros.
The concept is great, but 50 euros for this level of service? ROFL
Because Skype is still relatively new, people feel all warm and fuzzy about it. But long term, it doesn’t have a chance in hell.
And internet company BUYS another internet company, then raises Price to PAY for it…
SOP…
We had some severe storms roar through our area last night. The power was out from early evening until two this afternoon. BOTH, the cell tower and cable use local power for their amplifiers. Our land line though still worked.
At least we could call the county to remove the tree blocking our driveway when my wife was called in as an emergency worker at the Hospital. We couldn’t have done that with any VOIP system. That is why we won’t go over to VOIP from our land line.
#13 Thanks It took a while to convince Skype.com that I am not Chinese as it insisted I use the Chinese site (’cause of the Chinese ISP) This happens all the time…Arrght
I’ll have to give a stand alone (no computer) Skype phone a go and see how it compares with Vonage
Cheers
Did anyone notice that…
THE SKYPE SERVER PROBLEMS HAPPENED RIGHT AFTER MICROSOFT RELEASED A SLEW OF BUG/SECURITY UPDATES?
What irritates me is that Skype uses your computer’s resources and your net connections bandwidth to route other people’s calls So you’re paying for it twice. http://tinyurl.com/23a6yw
If your not making calls, save your bandwidth and resources. Shut it down.
Although the call quality is good, The Skype customer service sucks. I bought a year long skype credit to call the USA and Canada and it’s run out, even tho they guarranteed a year of calling. I know a couple other people’s who’ve experienced similiar problems when buying skype credit.
#21, Ze,
Hey, haven’t seen you around here for awhile. Welcome back. I hope all is well.
SOP…
Outage:
36 hours and counting….
http://tinyurl.com/2zseea
Some SOP….
#20, #23
Vonage is still working fine for me out side of America.
Cheers
ZeOverMind…your incorrect If you’re behind a NAT router, which pretty much most people who have BB would be these days, then Skype uses stuff all bandwidth. It would be lucky to use 1kbps either way. It’s a misconception and your spreading misinformation.
It F’s me off when people just don’t know what they’re talking about.