Software glitch silences Skype service

Skype users got a proverbial dead line when trying to dial out, or receive, a call on Thursday because of a software glitch with the VoIP service, according to a notice on Skype's Web site.

The notice begins: "Some of you may be having problems logging into Skype." So it's not yet entirely clear how many users are being denied service. The engineering staff at the Internet phone company expects to have the problem resolved within the next 12 to 24 hours, which would put a fix in place sometime Thursday or as late as Friday morning.

Affected Skype users are presently prevented from logging into the service, and prospective users are prevented from downloading Skype onto their systems.

So what's a gabby person to do without access to their Skype? Leave your Skype client running, so when the service is back up you'll automatically be logged on, advises Skype.

[howardjs01]

Skype Down - How Reliable? Alternatives?

I am in Germany on a business trip and for the first time was going to rely on Skype as my primary mode of communications, but now it is down and the company says it will be down for 12 to 24 hours.

How reliable is the VoIP technology?? Any alternatives to Skype that work as well but will not go down when Skype goes down?

[corelogik]

Skype Reliability

I have never had an issue using Skype. This is the first that I have
heard of them having an issue with connectivity.

Not saying it hasn't happened, but if it did, it wasn't a big enough
deal to warrant an article on C|Net.

[poopcasting]

I use Jangl

Not sure how the service is in Germany, but I switched to Jangl for my calls. I like that you do not have to have a computer to initiate calls on Jangl

[kieranmullen]

gizmoproject.com

It is very reliable.

KieranMullen
http://360oregon.com

[Stating]

No Service Is 100% Uptime

Even my plain old telephone line lost dialtone a few months ago. If you want a backup for Skype, try Yahoo Meesnger (Yahoo Voice). Having said that, Skype is far more reliable and sound quality is far better than Yahoo. There are also SIP providers like Gizmo.