Unable to access Skype - 'Skype home is not available'
 

I have been receiving this message for several hours. I am using an iMac OSX 10.9.5 Mavericks with Skype 7.36 (507). This worked fine last month.

My contacts show fine. Some are Offline, some are Away and some are shown as being Online. However attempts to call them end in the messages: Call - error and Call, unable to reach.

Calling the Skype test call goes through. I can record and hear my own voice and it tells me I have Skype configured correctly. Why then am I unable to make calls to my contacts?

An online search indicates this has been a common problem with Skype over the past few years. Is Microsoft unable to maintain a reliable Skype service? Is there some sort of quality control deficiency at Microsoft?

Thoughts please on how to solve it or alternatives to Skype.

Skype Alternatives
 

For the Mac - Facetime, for a better Video experience - Zoom. Zoom might be U.S. only though, not sure.

Sorry for the delay in replying. I ignored Skype for a couple of weeks. When I tried Skype again it worked. It took another week before one of my contacts was available. We were able to talk with no problem. I wonder why I and others received the “not available” message and seemed to be cut off?

Then late in December I was blocked again. This time every attempt to launch Skype was met with a message that it had just signed me out as I needed to “upgrade” to a later version. An online search found some instructions to give the impression that Skype had been changed to a later version just by changing a couple of numbers. ie it is the same as before but with two minor changes. It has since worked fine.

There does seem to be some sort of attitude problem at Microsoft/Skype that causes them to needlessly antagonise users.

Anyway, Skype is working for now - until the next obstruction.

If you or contacts are in the U.A.E then blocking has been recently reinstated for non local Telco VOIP services.

"IMO" is working in at least one of the Gulf states for calls to the UK when Skype etc are blocked. It only works on mobile phones & provides a video chat service.

The main downside is the annoying messages every time someone you know joins the service and the inability to manage people. However call quality is good

I just wish they'd leave the bl***y thing alone. I do use it quite often and the other day needed to make a call. Up came the message that it was doing an upgrade. I needed to make a call so tried to stop this time waster upgrade. The whole program disappeared! Later, I downloaded it and found that the layout had completely changed. I CANNOT BE BOTHERED re-learning a program just because some idiot thinks that we need all the fancy gizmos to conduct business. Rant over!!!

JimR, quite so! Microsoft took over Skype and their software 'upgrade' stopped my Philips dual mode Skype / DECT phone working. Successive 'upgrades' seem just to plague us with yet more infuriating adverts.

But the biggest "Why on earth did you do that?" I have for Microsoft is the appalling Outlook 2016 e-mail program which comes with Office 365. My previous version was Outlook 2007, which was perfectly fine, as was Outlook Express before the Microsoft geeks killed it off...along with Photo Editor, AutoRoute and other programs. But I've been struggling to get Outlook 2016 to become anything like as user-friendly as was Outlook 2007. Silly messages like 'We didn't find anything to show here' are utterly puerile.

Hear, hear!

With knobs on.

It wasn't broke so why did they "fix" it ?

I uninstalled the childish program that replaced Skype, and managed to install an older version. I get asked to upgrade from time to time, but tick Not now thanks or some-such.

It's as though people in software houses imagine we're all here waiting for an exciting new experience. Nope, most are not. I pay 5.99 a month for phone calls to the UK Ireland Canada and the US. I just need it to work - every minute of every day.

Don't have a early Surface, Skype just stopped working one day. No upgrade or solution from Redmond...............................

I also got rid of the child's toy version of Skype which came pre-installed with this Win10 computer and went back to Skype Version 7.40.0.104 . But what would happen if I elected to 'Update Classic Skype'? Would that Version 8 rubbish return?

Needless to say, I'm not going to risk trying!

Not long after the Windows 8 fiasco, I was at a social meeting when an American guest said that he came from Seattle. "I guess you work for Boeing?", I asked him. "No, Microsoft", he replied. "You actually admit to that??", I responded.

A bit belated, but thanks Beagle. I just got totally fed-up with the new version and downloaded the old 7.40.0.104. Works like a charm. Now I'm happy again.

Unfortunately it seems that Micro$oft has now deleted any option to download V.7.40.0.104 despite the hundreds of complaints about the abysmal V.8 'Skype for Kids'.

What an arrogant company Micro$oft truly is!

Off topic, I know. But can anyone tell how to get rid of bl**dy OneNote?

It comes up every time I open my computer and is one of the many things that seem to be delaying the start-up process.