Skype problems since around late 2016

[MSB]

I first registered a Skype number in mid 2015 when I headed off to England and Ireland for 6 months. I use it for business, I have an SA number as well as a UK number.

The service worked incredibly well; I seldom had a bad line or issue such as no sound.

Over the last year or so I have noticed that the service has become so bad that I am considering alternatives - not that I know of any.

I generally run the Skype app on Android. Often I'll get a call and I can't hear a thing.
Also I notice that when I have skype open on my laptop as well as my phone, my phone takes way longer to start ringing that what my laptop does.
What that tells me is that there is a serious lag on the app, so when I am not at the pc the caller has most likely already been ringing for 10+ seconds before my phone starts to ring - I am therefore losing alot of calls.

All in all, it's just not really working anymore. I am running the skype app on a good phone, so no prob with the processor, ram etc.

Anyone else noticed this?

 

[Ho3n3r]

https://discordapp.com/

It also supports video calls, which isn't mentioned on the features page, for some reason. And it's all free.

 

[Hamish McPanji]

Skype has destroyed themselves over the years...maybe deliberately to try an push people towards their business solutions instead.

Over the past couple of months alone , I have had to resort to WhatsApp and TeamViewer for important meetings because Skype just didnt work

On android, it's a pointless app, as it's a hit or miss whether you get notifications or not.

 

[sajunky]

I generally run the Skype app on Android. Often I'll get a call and I can't hear a thing.
Also I notice that when I have skype open on my laptop as well as my phone, my phone takes way longer to start ringing that what my laptop does.
What that tells me is that there is a serious lag on the app, so when I am not at the pc the caller has most likely already been ringing for 10+ seconds before my phone starts to ring - I am therefore losing alot of calls.

Problems with Skype on Android were for a while, people were resorting to use older versions of Skype. It is no longer an option as Microsoft has decided to keep you updated by force and now older versions are unable to connect to Skype servers anymore. Two or three months ago my Skype on iPhone 4 stopped working and it was nasty, as there is no new version for my phone, so it is over. Before it happened I have experienced similar symptoms of delayed incoming calls and one way sound, so maybe these are common Microsoft tactics to force users for an upgrade. See more: https://android.stackexchange.com/q...liably-receiving-and-notifying-about-calls-in

If you want to start your own troubleshooting, answer yourself these questions:

Do the phone use the same Internet connection as laptop? Is it a separate cellular, common WiFi (for both) or the phone has dual connection: cellular and accessing the same WiFi AP as your laptop? Is the same happen then you disable cellular data on the phone or instead disable WiFi?

It seems to be a common problem with some sophisticated Android phones. The phone turns off WiFi when going to sleep and switches to cellular. When the incoming call happens the app attempts to respond to the call over the active (cellular) connection, but in the same time the phone firmware switches routing to WiFi, resulting time-out on the cellular connection. After time-out the app will have to re-register to the server with new IP address and only then it will be able to receive the ringing signal.

For the above syndrome try this temporary solution:
Menu/Settings/Wireless & networks/Wi-Fi settings/menu key/Advanced/Wi-Fi Sleep policy/NEVER