Skype on Wednesday left millions of users out, as a problem with its connection system. What's a global internet user to do? To the millions users, here are a few Skype alternatives to keep you connected.
Jajah - is a VoIP (Voice over IP) provider, founded by Austrians Roman Scharf and Daniel Matters in 2005. The Jajah headquarters are located in
Jajah's primary service, Jajah Web, takes an approach called web-activated telephony, using VoIP to connect traditional phones (landline or mobile).
Oute Com (previously called Wengo Phone) is a free software SIP compliant VoIP client developed by the QuteCom (previously OpenWengo) community under the GNU General Public License (GPL). It allows users to speak to other users of SIP compliant VoIP software at no cost. It also allows users to call landlines and cellphones, send SMS and make video calls. None of these functionalities are tied to a particular provider, allowing users to choose among any SIP provider.
Google Voice is a telecommunications service by Google launched on March 11, 2009 and normally available only to US residents. A mistakenly-filed FCC report from October 2009 indicated that Google Voice had some 1.4 million users, 570,000 of which used the service 7 days a week. This has been confirmed by Google.
The service is configured and maintained by the user in a web-based application, styled after Google's e-mail service, Gmail. Google Voice currently provides free PC-to-phone calls into
ooVoo is a proprietary audio and video instant messaging client software developed by ooVoo LLC for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It was released in 2007, and is similar to Apple’s iChat and Skype. Calls can be recorded in real-time and six-way video chatting is supported. ooVoo provides real-time comments and warnings about performance and usage, and has a connection speed display that gives an indication of latency. The company website claims that 8 out of 10 Skype users prefer ooVoo.
SightSpeed is a videoconferencing company, supplying VoIP and instant messaging solutions for Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh operating systems. The service allows people to make video calls, computer-to-computer voice calls, and calls to regular telephones, with free and paid versions.
In October 2008, the company was acquired by Logitech for $30 million.
Vbuzzer offers everything Vbuzzer or Vbuzzer Messenger, is a voice over IP and instant messaging software and service, based on open protocols of XMPP (for instant messaging) and Session Initiation Protocol (for voice over IP). It competes against proprietary protocol based software like Skype, Yahoo! Voice, as well as other open standard based VoIP software. Vbuzzer offers free basic offers PC-PC, Phone-to-PC calling service as well as a paid PC-Phone service.
VoipBuster is a handy voip application similar to Skype that allows you to make calls to normal landlines worldwide offering free or low rates depending on the location of the call recipient. With this program you can also call other VoIPBuster users all over the world for free. The program features a simple and intuitive, but unattractive user interface that shows all the available functions in different tabs.