Skype alternatives and overseas communications

[nakatago]

the popular whatsapp app soon releasing video calls ...

goodbye skype ?

Never underestimate the power of psychological inertia or the fickleness of teenage girls.

[Strong Eagle]

the popular whatsapp app soon releasing video calls ...

goodbye skype ?

I doubt it but I curse the day MS bought Skype and so royally screwed up the signup process and the mobile apps.

[Brah]

I see no reason to stop using Skype, even if I tentatively adopt other apps which do similar things

[nakatago]

the popular whatsapp app soon releasing video calls ...

goodbye skype ?

I doubt it but I curse the day MS bought Skype and so royally screwed up the signup process and the mobile apps.

Whatsapp don't do cross-platform as smoothly as the others as it relies on end-to-end connections*, the other end being your phone (it has desktop/web apps now but it needs the phone app to be active on a phone).

That said, Skype isn't a smooth user experience and quality is iffy on my use cases so I only use it when absolutely necessary.

*kinda required if you want encrypted connections.

[Liftoggle]

check out go to meeting, its quite a good and free collaboration tool, it goes above VOIP calling, however certain features may require subscription.

check it here : http://www.gotomeeting.com.sg/

I'd agree with this. Had good success with Gotomeeting.

[bgd]

You think phone calls are secure? You need to read the press.

Whatsapp, at least for messages, is encrypted end to end. That's a bit more secure than a phone call. Facebook is not secure simply because people post all their private stuff for the world to see. That's not the fault of the app and you can't blame FB for using the data that people are willing to share. Same goes for Google, it tracks your searches and websites visited and shares that with 3rd parties. They are pretty open about it.

And email? I see that Yahoo have been trawling emails at the behest of the NSA for certain phrases. Not safe too.

But back on topic, IMO has good video, seems to be a popular Skype alternative with some.

[Strong Eagle]

[quote="bgd"]You think phone calls are secure? You need to read the press.[quote]

Cellular phone calls are encrypted. While not the strongest, the average Joe is not going to listen to your conversations.

[rajagainstthemachine]

About eight years ago, many pbx vendors were experimenting with end to end security for enterprise calling, however at that time carriers were still largely offering isdn and E1/T1 TDM circuits , so when VoIP calls were transcoded into TDM they lost the encryption, so it was not really secure end to end, fast forward to 2016, carriers offer SIP circuits, hence VoIP end to end,the result is end to end secure calling is now possible.

[risris]

You can try ooVoo !

[alexeyy]

Google voice/hangout works pretty well for me.

[rajagainstthemachine]

skype video calling has been sucky for quite some time now.. the audio establishes but the video sometimes doesn't for until say 15 minutes into the call.. wtf skype?

[community@lithan]

face time / tango on iPhone!

[Sia White]

whatsapp is forbidden in some countries. Viber is not. Of course, a Facebook messenger is always a good option, too but you have to create fb page, first

[threse]

I really like Google Hangouts and Whats Up. Cool communication tools!

[SwampJaguar]

Why torture yourself finding the best alter for skype which is skype is the best choice, just pay the credit for your convenience.