Skype Winding Up.

[mason45]

Skype has announced that it will cease on May 25. Does anyone know of any similar service for cheap overseas calls? Thanks.

[BigHewer]

  On 3/31/2025 at 5:28 AM, mason45 said:

Skype has announced that it will cease on May 25. Does anyone know of any similar service for cheap overseas calls? Thanks.

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I’ve switched to Viber.

Owned by Rakuten in Japan. Similar functions and subscription/ pricing. 

Used the free version for 5 years, just switched to a subscription and it’s working well.

[SnapDragon]

  On 3/31/2025 at 6:24 AM, BigHewer said:

I’ve switched to Viber.

Owned by Rakuten in Japan. Similar functions and subscription/ pricing. 

Used the free version for 5 years, just switched to a subscription and it’s working well.

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I believe that the data bods in Skype, can see the other, newer, free chat lines, are taking the crowd; especially the youngsters. And in any case, the Skype tech brains are now are now running Wise (Transfer Wise).

[mason45]

Thanks for the info but when installing I have no idea how to use a QR code.

[rattlesnake]

Skype is going to be replaced by Microsoft Teams, which will offer the same features. All you need to do is download Teams for your account and contacts to be transferred.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/moving-from-skype-to-microsoft-teams-free-3c0caa26-d9db-4179-bcb3-930ae2c87570#:~:text=Sign in to Microsoft Teams,action to migrate your data.

[AussieBob]

  On 3/31/2025 at 7:53 AM, rattlesnake said:

Skype is going to be replaced by Microsoft Teams, which will offer the same features. All you need to do is download Teams for your account and contacts to be transferred.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/moving-from-skype-to-microsoft-teams-free-3c0caa26-d9db-4179-bcb3-930ae2c87570#:~:text=Sign in to Microsoft Teams,action to migrate your data.

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I would be careful - Teams is a business application that is designed for people in business sharing documents and having calls/video conferences and it syncs data between their servers and the businesses that use the product. It is not intended for home/consumer use and IMO would be a concern - especially if you are using bank apps on your phone/laptop that you install Teams on. IMO it will be a cluster**** as MS always screw things up, so I will use a stand alone call service/app only, and watch and wait and see what MS does over the next year or two.

Many people, like me, used Microsoft POP email services - and then they just canned it. Because Exchange via 365 is their preferred business model for businesses, and they dont really want the consumer customers - security reason for the change was BS.  Hooking into Teams will probably be a bad move for a consumer customer - wait and see is my opinion. 

[rattlesnake]

  On 3/31/2025 at 8:23 AM, AussieBob said:

I would be careful - Teams is a business application that is designed for people in business sharing documents and having calls/video conferences and it syncs data between their servers and the businesses that use the product. It is not intended for home/consumer use and IMO would be a concern - especially if you are using bank apps on your phone/laptop that you install Teams on. IMO it will be a cluster**** as MS always screw things up, so I will use a stand alone call service/app only, and watch and wait and see what MS does over the next year or two.

Many people, like me, used Microsoft POP email services - and then they just canned it. Because Exchange via 365 is their preferred business model for businesses, and they dont really want the consumer customers - security reason for the change was BS.  Hooking into Teams will probably be a bad move for a consumer customer - wait and see is my opinion. 

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Interesting point.

I will be moving from Skype to Teams soon for work purposes. I have used 365 for years and from a professional standpoint, I find it great.

But regarding phone calls, Viber, as mentioned by BH, seems good, I might try that in the rare cases where I need it, such as calling Thailand from France.

[BigHewer]

One of my client companies was using Teams three or four years ago, then abruptly switched to Zoom due to an unspecified issue. 
I don’t have any clients / partners using Teams currently, though it depends on the company and I know a lot of firms use it.

[Pinetree]

  On 3/31/2025 at 5:28 AM, mason45 said:

Skype has announced that it will cease on May 25. Does anyone know of any similar service for cheap overseas calls? Thanks.

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To be honest, I thought it had disappeared years ago.

I use Whatsapp, Viber or Zoom. All are free and work well. 

[AussieBob]

  On 3/31/2025 at 8:31 AM, rattlesnake said:

Interesting point.

I will be moving from Skype to Teams soon for work purposes. I have used 365 for years and from a professional standpoint, I find it great.

But regarding phone calls, Viber, as mentioned by BH, seems good, I might try that in the rare cases where I need it, such as calling Thailand from France.

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I will look at Viber too - for calling Australia organisations - like Govt and banks etc.

Line and Messenger are free for calls to family and friends so I will continue to use that.

[BigHewer]

The issue is when landlines are the only option, My father won’t get Internet or a mobile and only has a landline. Hence my need for a Skype subscription (and now Viber).

Apparently Viber is widely used in Bulgaria, Hungary, Greece and Australia. Hardly used in Japan where it is from. Odd.

[Pinetree]

  On 3/31/2025 at 12:58 PM, BigHewer said:

Hardly used in Japan where it is from. Odd.

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There are very few things that are not 'odd' in Japan.

But they do make great cars, but as we will see this coming weekend, not so good Red Bull F1 drivers.  Yuki is going to be buried. 

[BainaiThai]

This morning had a video chat with my USA daughters and families on Google Meet.  Free one hour chat.

[AussieBob]

Has anyone tried Google Voice 

https://voice.google.com/about