I used to have a Philips combined Skype / DECT phone with answering system. It worked fine until Micro$oft took over Skype, after which it wouldn't work properly. Philips blamed Micro$oft for refusing to provide details of the changes they'd made to the Skype software and Micro$oft refused to take any responsibility for fixing things.... So now I've thrown it away and have bought a couple of Panasonic DECT phones instead.
Skype works OK on my laptop, apart from the greed of Micro$oft and its wretched adverts. But with the last 'update' it screwed up the 'ringing' option; normally I use a wireless headset and Skype rings using the laptop's speaker - but it had reset itself to ring through the headset, which is damn all use when the headset is switched off! It had also messed up my lady friend's microphone settings...
Micro$oft, will you PLEASE stop your geeks fiddling!