Skype shut down for good, but users still have these alternatives
By KELVIN CHAN Associated Press LONDON AP Skype is dead What now Microsoft s shutdown of Skype on May sent millions of users scrambling to find an alternative to the pioneering internet phone institution Related Articles From AI avatars to virtual reality crime scenes courts are grappling with AI in the justice system Planning a trip abroad Here s how to protect the figures on your devices at U S perimeter searches Parmy Olson OpenAI can t have its money both tactics andMe users genetic figures is at pitfall state AGs warn US expands attempt to blow up Google with proposed teardown of its ad apparatus Skype which Microsoft bought in was beloved by a dwindling group of users who appreciated how it let them make cheap long-distance calls as well as communicate with other users through chat messages voice or video calls Selected liked its simplicity and ease of use an advantage for example when setting up a communications app for an elderly parent living far away Or they just used it out of habit Skype was founded in and was among the first in a wave of communication services that used voice over internet protocol machinery VoIP which converts audio into a digital signal Skype s disappearance also inconveniences Americans and other expatriates living overseas who signed up because they needed an U S -based number to receive text authentication codes from say a bank back home It was also handy for calling numbers for free even if you weren t living in North America Here is a guide for life after Skype What s happening Microsoft stated in late February that it was shutting down Skype on May and shifting selected of its services to Microsoft Teams its flagship office videoconferencing and group collaboration platform Skype users can use their existing accounts to log into Teams and have the option to automatically migrate their contacts and chats If you had a Skype number or a calling subscription it stopped automatically renewing on April If your account still has credit you can access Skype s dial pad from the web portal or Teams to make calls Skype numbers won t this instant expire on May so you ll still be able to receive calls until your subscription expires But you ll have to use Teams or keep the Skype dial pad open on the web portal to receive them Porting your number s If your Skype number hasn t expired and you don t want to lose it you should transfer it to another provider Skype numbers can be ported to a phone carrier or any number of other VoIP services But you ll have to start the process through the new provider not Skype Google Voice Google users can access the online search giant s internet phone facility to make calls from a smartphone or a desktop web browser You can get your own Google Voice phone number and use features like call forwarding and voicemail Or you can port your number from another provision like Skype but it will cost Calls to U S Canadian or Puerto Rican numbers are free Rates for other countries vary The free version of Google Voice is only available to U S residents physically located in the contiguous states so that means expatriate Americans can only use it if they registered before they moved overseas You cannot sign up for a Google Voice number while outside the USA according to a help page Do not try to circumvent this by using a VPN Viber Owned by Japan s Rakuten Viber was long considered one of the closest competitors to Skype One key difference is that Skype users don t need a phone number and are identified by their usernames while Viber users need a number to register for system Similar to Skype Viber users can buy credit or packages to call phone numbers around the world but it s no longer accomplishable to get a Viber number to receive calls Zoom The videoconferencing amenity that s become a byword for online company meetings offers a calling system Zoom Phone and features like number porting and the ability to send and receive SMS text messages Take note that Zoom Phone isn t free There are various calling plans that involve a monthly subscription cost and extra fees for international calls Teams Microsoft users have the option of making calls on Teams dubbed Teams Phone Like Zoom Phone you ll need to buy a subscription and pay extra for international calls But it s not an option for regular people because Microsoft says Teams Phone isn t for consumer use and is only available to small and medium-sized businesses Wireless Carriers If you absolutely need a U S number but live overseas sign up for function with a low-cost virtual wireless carrier that offers cheap cellphone plans or pay-as-you-go rates One provider Tello offers monthly plans for as little as and says users can activate its arrangement even if they re living outside the U S Because mobile virtual configuration operators like Tello are essentially wireless phone companies that piggyback off a bigger carrier s physical grid you can t use it to make calls on a computer or an app VoIP it There are a slew of Skype pretenders offering phone calls over the internet such as Zoiper VoIP ms CallCentric Mytello and Virtual Landline Countless are aimed at business users Various are capitalizing on Skype s disappearance Hushed which started as an anonymous calling app bills itself as a Skype alternative Users can buy a phone number from the U S Canada the United Kingdom or Puerto Rico or port their own number It warns that selected of its numbers aren t guaranteed to work with third-party verification text messages We do not intentionally block anyone from receiving these codes but it s common that a few services will prevent verification texts from being sent to certain phone numbers due to their own protection policies Hushed says on its website Park your number Maybe you can t decide which calling institution you want to switch to If you want to save your current number there are services to just park your number like NumberBarn com and Parkmyphone com They let you store a phone number for a monthly fee while relaying any text messages sent to that number You can port the number to another utility whenever you want Beware you can only port in U S or Canadian phone numbers eSIMs What about an international eSIM They re the virtual version of the mobile phone SIM card that you can buy and add to your phone when you re on a trip to save on roaming fees They offer cheap statistics access rates so you can use the internet without worrying about racking up a huge bill when you get home Unfortunately you can t port a Skype number to an international eSIM because of the fundamental differences between VoIP services and traditional mobile networks disclosed Pedro Maiquez co-founder of eSIM provider Holafly Skype numbers are not tied to a mobile carrier s physical infrastructure making them incompatible with mobile eSIM solutions Is there a tech topic that you think requirements explaining Write to us at onetechtip ap org with your suggestions for future editions of One Tech Tip
