Skype Down?

[themidge]

Evening all, anyone having trouble signing into skype? I haven't been able to sign in for over an hour now and the website is tempremental - probably because of the number of hits its getting from disconnected users. Let me know if you're having similar problems. Thanks.

[ericlday]

No connection at all for me.

[west lakes]

There is a message in the troubleshooting part of their website apologising

(can't get to it now as their server must be very busy)

[BOAC]

Courtesy of 'The Register'

Skype goes tits up across globe

Mass supernode death

Have they perchance withdrawn Julian's access? (That's my bit...)

[Mr Optimistic]

23,899,642 people online right now - or so says their homepage.

To quote

Mr Parkes said Skype is building "mega-supernodes" to fix the problem, but that it could take a few hours before service returns and even longer before some features - such as group video calling - start working again.

Not just supernodes but 'mega-supernodes'. I've no idea what this means :( . Too old at 57.

[Loose rivets]

I knowed this would happen. (Spoken in a Gabby voice.) [You've got to be really old to remember how that sounds.]


Skype relies on a network of computers and phones to keep things running and some of these are what Skype call Supernodes. When you try to talk to someone on Skype your computer will look for a Supernode to figure out how to connect to them. Skype are now creating what they call “mega-supernodes” which will take several hours at which point things should return to normal.


Funny, innit? Being able to sit in one's den in Texas, and chat to folk around the world with a clarity that makes them sound as though they were beside you. That's 'Normal.'

When my son showed his son's friend his new 3D camera, the kit said, 'Mmm...yeh. Cool.' and ran off to play with something really interesting.

[BEagle]

Skype is still tits up this morning - it connects for a few seconds, then it's back to the grey icon and rolling arrows....:(

Quite surprising how many people now 'rely' on Skype; it's convenient to have as an alternative and for videochats, but I wouldn't rely on it exclusively at this stage.

Skype V5.0.0.152 has been less stable than the previous version; I tried to download a later version earlier this week and it kept giving 'skype exception error' messages....:(

[BOAC]

I'm quite surprised that they have not put a 'splash' message on the home page - it would save a lot of rooting around to see that they know!

I think the problem is potentially serious for those many businesses who have switched to VOIP for communications.

Do we know if it is a DOS, server crash, virus or what?

[mixture]

BOAC,

I think the problem is potentially serious for those many businesses who have switched to VOIP for communications.


Businesses with half a brain don't use Skype for their VoIP.

Do we know if it is a DOS, server crash, virus or what?

Skype - The Big Blog - Skype downtime today (http://blogs.skype.com/en/2010/12/skype_downtime_today.html)

Apparently something to do with a bug in the latest version, or so the "official" line goes.

It's a bit difficult to DoS a P2P network (not impossible, just tricky)..... although obviously one should not rule it out, my uninformed guess would be that that's unlikely to be the cause (apart from the present "official" explanation of a self-inflicted DoS )

[BOAC]

Businesses with half a brain don't use Skype for their VoIP. - any way to narrow it down at all?:p

[Capetonian]

I think the problem is potentially serious for those many businesses who have switched to VOIP for communications.

It seems to me little better than a toy and I am surprised to hear that (serious) businesses use it. I don't even use it for voice calls, I find the quality unacceptable, and the saving on cost not worthwhile. Also I would not call clients using Skype as I think it looks unprofessional, like using a Hotmail or Yahoo email address.

[islander539]

Skype is now working for me! :D

[Mike-Bracknell]

It seems to me little better than a toy and I am surprised to hear that (serious) businesses use it. I don't even use it for voice calls, I find the quality unacceptable, and the saving on cost not worthwhile. Also I would not call clients using Skype as I think it looks unprofessional, like using a Hotmail or Yahoo email address.

Comparing Skype and a properly configured VoIP connection is like comparing chalk and cheese.

Serious businesses DO use VoIP. Indeed, I am willing to bet that 99% of your phone calls from your desk phone anywhere has incorporated some sort of VoIP.

[Slasher]

Skype still down around here - had to rely on the bloody cellphone all day! :mad:

Also I would not call clients using Skype as I think it looks unprofessional,

Actually Capetonian I prefer to deal with businesses who have a Skype contact because
I save on phone costs and I suppose they do too. If looking "unprofessional" means it
appears uncool not to use expensive landlines or cellular connections, then I'm all for this
unprofessionality. If I'm put on hold its no big expensive deal. Any mob who refuses to utilise
this medium "because it seems unprofessional" just cut their own throats because I and
others simply take our business elsewhere. I talk a lot to major banks and for example I
was fed up paying heaps in calls to Barclays so HSBC China won out instead.

Quite often I'll be on the Skype blower for up to 3 hours or more with Skype-equipped
investment mobs I deal with in Europe, USA and China not to mention my mates in far
flung areas and talking to overseas companies in general. I'll be stuffed paying a damn
fortune for calls, unprofessional-looking or not.

Businesses with Skype get a higher volume of clientele because tel costs are kept to a
minimum on both sides of the mike, customers especially.

[ericlday]

and now working for me.....Like Islander539 I am in the Canaries.

[Capetonian]

Interesting point of view, slasher, and I've noticed a few businesses I deal with have Skype contact details, but I always use the conventional phone. Maybe i'm just old-fashioned!

[Bern Oulli]

Not working here in darkest Essex, UK.

[Slasher]

Nothing wrong in being old fashioned as long as it doesn't cost anyone extra Cape. :ok:

[Metro man]

What's the big drama ? It went off for a few hours, regular phones still worked. I've saved a fortune over the years compared to using the standard network.:ok:

[Loose rivets]

I think we sometimes forget just how far we've come in the last 40 years. The to-be Rivetess called me in Malta when I was doing one of the month stints there. 3 mins. Her entire week's wages.

In 1990, we spent 79 Quid on a row across the Atlantic.:bored:


I love Skype, but I think it might be better to pay a nominal charge and get a solid service. With 20 million people on line at any one time, a cent a minute would give them substantial funds to put into more kit - it has to be better than getting :mad: all. Even on my meager pension, I for one would think that was a bargain.

Sometimes, things that are too good to be true, really are.:hmm:

[Capetonian]

Good point, loose rivets. I remember when making even a domestic long distance call, let alone an international, was a big deal and you did it with sweating palms and one eye on the second hand!

Roll on the years, I don't even think of the cost, it's such an insignificant portion of outgoings it's not worth a thought. In our household, 95% of our telephone traffic is international and we're talking several hours daily (which is better than having mother-in-law here!)

[BEagle]

Ah yes - the pre-STD days when you would ring 0 for the operator, then ask for a 'trunk call' to somewhere beyond the local exchange. A few minutes later, he/she would call back and put you through...

Only a few years ago, UK inland calls were distance based - and it was cheaper to ring 'abroad' after 2000 during the week.

Remember the joy of the 'pips'..:uhoh:?

Or 'party lines' which you had to share with a neighbour?

I see from my records that, in 1991 my first cellphone (in the car) cost me £27 per month subscription and that peak time calls cost 25p per minute outside London or 33p per minute inside....:eek:

Even in 1985, virtually no-one had a home 'answering machine' - and home fax machines were unheard of!

People who've never had to struggle with shoving coins into a GPO public callbox and who can now call world-wide from a 3G phone for peanuts should be very grateful!

Skype is another excellent innovatiion, but it still has some limitations. It now seems to be fully restored; one hopes that most Skype engineering work will concentrate on reliability and quality issues rather than geeky gimmicks.

[Gertrude the Wombat]

Sometimes, things that are too good to be true, really are
I used Skype on Wednesday, a couple of hours before it fell over.

It took several emails and one landlane call to get the Skype call set up, and then it was very difficult to hear what was going on compared to a normal landline teleconference. Mostly due to the voice of the person two desks away reaching me through the air about a second before it appeared on the headphones ... yet bizarrely there seemed to be no delay on the Indian leg of the call!

Landline would have been cheaper. Yes it would still have taken some emails to set the call up, but the better quality resulting in less time wasted would have paid the call charges.

This was my second attempt to talk to someone via Skype. On the first attempt the voice was so distorted in both directions, only about one syllable in three being audible, that a conversation was impossible, so we gave up and conducted the business by landline and email. I know which I'll try first next time.

[Metro man]

I have a dedicated Skype phone which plugs into the router, no computer required. Therefore I always appear online to anyone who wants to Skype me, Skype out calls to landlines are usually good quality but obviously depend on the speed of your internet connection.

Also I have the Skype app on my Iphone which saved me quite a bit of money during a recent trip when calling home(to the Skype phone) using the hotels free WiFi. Call quality was perfectly acceptable.:)

[BEagle]

The old RAF telephone system (before the demise of local operators) was often highly amusing... You could be connected to Bawtry or Bawdsey when you wanted Brawdy, or Llanbedr instead of Lampeter.....:hmm:

In the good old days at RAF Brawdy (1975-6), the phones didn't even have dials. You just picked up the phone and some aged Druid connected you to the appropriate extension. If said Druid didn't answer quickly and you rattled the cradle, an aggrieved voice would suddenly ask "Are you flashin'?" - it seems that this was the way to signal an emergency!

Cross-country calls involved a series of progressively fainter old biddies chatting to eachother ("Central...click, click, Rothwell Haigh please, dear...click, click...Machrihanish please....click, click...."Hullooo, RAF Machrihanish here...."), interspersed with the occasional screech of "ARE YOU WORKING??!!" if you dared to pause for thought in mid-call!

A mate using this system once got annoyed when it seemingly went dead "Ah f*ck it, the bastard telephone's gone t*ts up. Bolleaux!" he muttered to no-one in particular, only to be chastised by some vexed harpy who retorted "There's no call for language like that, young man, I'm trying to connect you!".

The 'Dial-a-mate' system worked fine in the 80s and 90s. But getting rid of station operators in favour of failed burger-flippers at call centres proved a total disaster.

Thank heavens for cellphones!

[BOAC]

I can only assume, Gert,that your internet connection was poor or the Skype system was already on the 'way down'. Apart from the odd 'duplex' conversation problem on a slow connection at home I have had excellent call quality from hotels in 'forrin parts'.

Mind you, I've never Skype'd someone 'two desks away':)

[Capetonian]

Gertrude's experience and opinion of Skype is consistent with my own. My line download speed is 5-6 Mb and I have never had better than mediocre call quality on Skype, with dropouts. I realise that this could be due to poor line quality/speed at the terminating end of the calls, but I have tested it by calling people who have equal or better downolad speeds and the quality has still not been acceptable.

Skype is cheap, and like most cheap things, not as good as good as a more expensive service. As the difference is marginal, I prefer to pay for convenience and quality.

On a related topic, I remember many years ago, as a spotty lovestruck teenager, calling a girl I'd met on a skiing holiday in the Tirol. She lived in a remote village on the west coast of Ireland. I called our local operator and asked for Ballyclondroid (or whatever it was) 14, she called Dublin, who called Limerick, who called ..... and eventually got through to Ballyclondroid, asked for number 14, and I heard the broad Irish accent coming back down the line : "You'll be wanting the O'Reilly's then, they're down at the O'Connors for lunch, I'll put you through there, it's number 18."

And on yet another note, you don't have to be a teenager to be lovestruck!

[jimtherev]

And on yet another note, you don't have to be a teenager to be lovestruck!
But it helps. Back in 1958, I still remember waiting for my (2/3d for three minutes) call to be connected to my best-beloved. I must have been panting or something: quoth the operator "Heavy-breather, you're throoough" Half the call wasted in giggling.
Skype works well for me, btw.

[Loose rivets]

While down memory lane:

You just picked up the phone and some aged Druid connected you to the appropriate extension.


Hee, hee...not always. I've just remembered going to a red box and picking up the receiver to ask for the number of a girl in London that I was totally besotted with. The number was repeated rather mechanically by a young female voice, then suddenly she said. "Is that you Rivets?" Well, something like that.

I was numbed. The tall blond operator and I were having an affair. I can't remember what I did, but I'm sure I didn't make the call.

As an aside. She was in an ordinary looking house next to the post office. Outside was a pair of red boxes. The local barber was a funny little fellow, liked a bit of smut while he was cutting one's hair. He also liked to talk dirty to the female operators. One night, one of them simply opened the blinds and saw him drooling into the phone. He went before the magistrates, which in a small town was probably bad enough, but he also had a HUGE wife, who had been seriously humiliated. He was a tad more subdued after that.