Skype removes credits and phone numbers

Microsoft has cut two of Skype’s main premium features: credit and custom phone numbers. Instead of credits, the company now offers subscriptions – at regional and global prices, depending on your needs. As for using a phone number other than your mobile, there is no alternative on the platform anymore.

The first wind of change came by a volunteer moderator responding on Microsoft’s Skype forums to a user who wanted to know why he couldn’t buy new credits. “We just received new information from Microsoft,” said Skype moderator Ruwim. B, who rocked a cute Yoda profile picture. “Skype has stopped buying Skype Credit for all users. The only option available now is monthly calling plans.

When another user chimed in to ask for confirmation that this meant there was no platform-wide way to send SMS messages after you ran out of credits, the moderator wrote: “Unless they decide to add an ongoing SMS subscription, you will You can no longer send outgoing SMS texts from Skype.”

Microsoft confirmed the changes in statement for TechCrunchsaying the company “continually evaluates product strategy based on usage and customer needs.” The spokesperson clarified that existing Skype numbers will still work and existing credit can still be used, but once you run out of credits, that’s it. You can now only buy a subscription instead of credits, and you’ll have to look for other platforms that offer a virtual phone number that you can answer over VoIP.

Skype-to-Skype calling has always been free on the platform — and still is. If that’s all you use the service for, nothing needs to change. When calling landlines or supported mobile numbers (with remaining credits or subscription), you can still use the service’s caller ID feature, which shows your real cell number to the receiving party. So removing a Skype number only affects you if you want to call or text non-Skype lines, or if you want to display a custom number (such as one with the local code of the country you’re calling from). when you do.

The product stands alongside Google Voice as a service that once seemed ready-made take on the new mobile world but instead settled into niche status. As alternatives like scaling, FaceTime and WhatsApp has grown to capture most of the demand for internet calls and messages in the pandemic era, Microsoft-owned Skype has played second fiddle even within the company. Microsoft has invested much more in promoting its preferred chat platform, Teams.

You may have noticed that Microsoft isn’t promoting Skype like it did in the first few years after that buys the company for $8.5 billion in 2011 He is no longer in the habit of promoting Skype’s user base on earnings calls (or anywhere else). like TechCrunch notes, the last mention is in a blog post from last year, which said: “More than 36 million people use Skype every day to connect via phone calls and chats across borders and around the world.”

It’s unclear if those numbers are still up to date, and we also don’t know how much they relied on the premium features that are gone. Regardless, we can assume that there is still a healthy portion of people around the world who rely at least to some extent on the platform’s paid features. Those who use anything other than free Skype-to-Skype calling are now left to weigh in the price of the subscription or go shopping.