Ask HN: Best replacement for Skype

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16179151

by drallison • 9 years ago

8 7 9 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Skype just announced a significant (67%) increase in price for a SkypeIn number. The price increase together with a nearly non-functional user interface, a buggy Linux application and poor sound stability, suggests that it may be time to move on. What other suppliers have products that can be used to replace Skype?

black-hole• 9 years ago

Wire. Its end-to-end encrypted and has applications for all major platforms (electron though)

indescions_2018• 9 years ago

This actually looks pretty cool. Thanks for the link ;)

I can also recommend Cyclops for group video conferencing. Chrome only. But WebRTC based so its as easy as distributing a URL!

https://www.cyclops.io/

gesman• 9 years ago

Since MSFT touched Skype it was a slow and accelerating downhill.

I was super impressed by sound quality and stability of Telegram app talking friend from europe over average wifi.

karma_daemon• 9 years ago

Discord for sure

I switched and never looked back. They have pretty slick apps for desktop and mobile too.

eb0la• 9 years ago

If you run your own voip software (asterixt, freebpx, etc), you can get a DID (Dial-In) number from $2 per month (depending on the country).

Just google {country} did number ;-)

XDASyndicate• 9 years ago

Use http://textnow.com if you need an incoming/outgoing phone number. It's free also. If you just want calling, and you care about open-source and security, use Riot. http://riot.im/app and if you want something a little more simple I suggest ooVoo.

app4soft• 9 years ago

a buggy Linux application and poor sound stability, suggests that it may be time to move on

Be hacker! Just "fix"[0] good-oldyie Skype 4.3 for Linux[1][2] after install it:

  sudo sed -i 's/4\.3\.0\.37/8\.3\.0\.37/' /usr/bin/skype

[0] http://www.opennet.ru/tips/info/3039.shtml

[1] http://download.skype.com/linux/skype-ubuntu-precise_4.3.0.3...

[2] http://download.skype.com/linux/skype-debian_4.3.0.37-1_i386...

Ask HN: Best replacement for Skype

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