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Ask HN: Best replacement for Skype

8 points by drallison 9y ago

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 9y ago
Wire. Its end-to-end encrypted and has applications for all major platforms (electron though)
- indescions_2018 9y 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/ https://www.cyclops.io/
gesman 9y 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 9y ago
Discord for sure I switched and never looked back. They have pretty slick apps for desktop and mobile too.
eb0la 9y 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 9y ago
Use http://textnow.com 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 http://riot.im/app and if you want something a little more simple I suggest ooVoo.
app4soft 9y 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 http://www.opennet.ru/tips/info/3039.shtml [1] http://download.skype.com/linux/skype-ubuntu-precise_4.3.0.37-1_i386.deb 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.deb http://download.skype.com/linux/skype-debian_4.3.0.37-1_i386...

8 points by drallison 9y ago

black-hole 9y ago

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

indescions_2018 9y 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/ https://www.cyclops.io/

gesman 9y 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 9y ago

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

eb0la 9y 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 9y ago

Use http://textnow.com 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 http://riot.im/app and if you want something a little more simple I suggest ooVoo.

app4soft 9y 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 http://www.opennet.ru/tips/info/3039.shtml [1] http://download.skype.com/linux/skype-ubuntu-precise_4.3.0.37-1_i386.deb 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.deb http://download.skype.com/linux/skype-debian_4.3.0.37-1_i386...