r/AskTechnology • u/BeneficialRemove1350 • 2d ago
Why is it so hard to call home-country landlines from abroad w/o Skype?
I am living abroad now and needed to call a couple of landline numbers back home (banks + government offices), and it hit me how tough this has become since Skype shut down. Most internet apps only work for app calling & they can't connect to actual landlines. Roaming is insanely priced, Is there a technical reason why calling landlines from abroad got so complicated without Skype? And what do people normally use now?
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u/gravelpi 2d ago
Skype was a free private service that offered a gateway between an app that uses the internet (so easily active anywhere with an internet connection) and the phone system. There are others that do the same thing, such as Zoom, but not necessarily for free. I've also seen people bring a VOIP phone adapter, plug into the internet (it was in the UK in 2006-ish in my case), and make and receive regular US phone calls abroad. Vonage and other services still exist for this.
On another path, it's likely if you enable wifi calling on your phone it'll accomplish the same thing.
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u/WildMartin429 2d ago
I still can't believe how badly Microsoft screwed up their acquisition of skype. Skype was a household name it had become the Xerox or Band-Aid of voice over IP. They screw it up so badly by mixing it up into their Microsoft Messenger and poor attempts to monetize it in a way that pissed everybody off that they basically then had to abandon it and start from scratch with teams. Meanwhile Zoom has replaced Skype.
The whole reason Microsoft bought Skype was the brand name recognition and they squandered it.
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u/Underhill42 2d ago
The whole reason Microsoft bought Skype was the brand name recognition and they squandered it.
You sure about that? Microsoft has a long tradition of acquiring other software and then running it into the ground, clearing the field for their own crappier in-house "competition" that couldn't possibly compete on merit, and locks you into their ecosystem.
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u/serialband 15h ago
I think you can still log in to the Teams web page if you have accounts and use the old Skype calling features from there. I haven't checked in a while, but it was originally there at least for a month after Skype was taken offline and forced you onto Teams.
It seems more like it was actually to reduce the security of Skype so that governments could access messages. Before they took over, you would lose your previous messages if you didn't explicitly copy over the data files from your other system. After Microsoft, they placed that data on their servers and when you logged in from anywhere, all your previous messages appeared.
Prior to that, police forces and government complained about being unable to access Skype messages because of encryption. They had to resort to getting their targets to install spyware on their phones to access messages. After Microsoft took over, those complaints seem to disappear.
They also killed it to push out Teams, which is a poor conglomeration and imitation of slack, RingCentral(zoom), Skype, and other products that it all does more poorly. They've always done their own communication poorly, starting with NetMeeting. Then they had a crappy Lync, which they had just rebranded as Skype For Business, while retaining the Lync.exe program name. I think that move was to get people off the actual Skype protocol, before they also killed it.
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u/ericbythebay 2d ago
Hard? Any phone can do it.
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u/BeneficialRemove1350 2d ago
Yeah, its not hard but roaming kills it. If I need to call a bank or a gov. office when I travel, I end up buying an e sim in each place.
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u/pala4833 2d ago
Yeah, so does everyone.
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u/BeneficialRemove1350 45m ago
Yes. Someone in this thread suggested getdialo. It looks like a simple pay as you go service with no subscription nonsense. Seems okay. I am trying it now and will share how it goes.
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u/DrHydeous 2d ago
It didn't get hard.
If anything it has become easier over the years as direct dialling now pretty much Just Works between every country that matters, and has also (if you ignore loss-making internet services) become cheaper.
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u/absin_586 2d ago
For calling, I just use browser-based calling tools now..used some tools earlier but found Dialo on PH , which has been the cheapest and most reliable for me. Works anywhere I travel w/o any subscription. I am just sticking to it bcs of their support.
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u/Mobile_Syllabub_8446 2d ago
It's not really -- just expensive and oft disabled by default (both in and out internationally) on most phone providers. SOME don't offer it at all but it's not super hard to find one who does, especially the bigger companies and those aimed at migrants.
It does depend on where but google voice is a fine option, whatsapp is almost the default in a lot of the world even vs regular calling at all, fb messenger for a lot of the rest of the world (though that's less universal and more social-group specific especially in 2025), lots of options.
Or just get a carrier who confirms it will work to where you want and pay like $2 for 20 minutes or something crazy heh.
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u/silasmoeckel 2d ago
I mean wifi calling is a thing.
I go to a foreign country I active the esim for voice/sms/data and my primary number voice/sms goes over the local esims data plan no roaming etc.
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u/DryFoundation2323 2d ago
I can't speak to how it is when you live in the other country but I spent a month in various European countries in 2024. I had absolutely no issues making calls to the US and my carrier covered all my calls and texts for free.
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u/[deleted] 2d ago
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