Ask HN: Do you travel regularly? Would you be interested in a Skype alternative?

4 points by deepstream 7y ago ↗ HN

I travel a lot and find Skype frustrating because it has rules for recharges based on which country you are currently in / where you created your account. I also often forget my Skype password. The result is when I need to make an international call, Skype, not that cheap, is also not easy.

I've been considering building something atop Twilio to solve my own problem, and putting the business viability aside, I'm wondering if any esteemed hackeroos could see themselves using like a "Web Payphone" where you can make international calls through your browser, after inserting some credit.

I'm thinking we could either do it once off, like make a hold on the credit, then after the call, charge for the actual amount ( say you insert 5 dollars, your call costs 1 dollar, we charge you for 1 dollar, and the 5 dollar hold comes off ). Or we could do regular PaYG. Also, if your call length is going to exceed 5 dollars, we warn on your side and cut it if it goes over (like a regular payphone of olde).

Apart from the retro tech fetishism of making a web based "payphone" (I remember them from youth), every time I need to dial international and I'm in a country, I wish I had an easy way to do it.

But I saw no one has made this, so I guess maybe it's not such a great idea. Still, it would help me. I've been thinking about it for a while and could probably build it.

I should add that this would not be for "Staying in touch with your friends"™ it would be for "utility" calls, like calling your bank when you're overseas. Not that you couldn't call any number you like, but with Whatsapp et al why would you want to pay to do so?

3 comments

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gamechangr 7y ago ↗

Honestly, I use FaceTime internationally and it's worked so far.

I used to use Skype regularly, but now there's no need for it.

cpach 7y ago ↗

FaceTime is great. Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp might also be viable options depending on the situation.

tlb 7y ago ↗

I assume that Skype doesn't have those rules just to be annoying. They didn't start off with them -- they added them in response to some kind of problem. Perhaps it's a problem you wouldn't have if you're not a huge company, in which case you could have a great business. Or perhaps it's a problem that would be even worse for a small startup, such as rampant credit card fraud from some locations. (It's worse for a small company because a disproportionate number of your customers will be fraudsters who were blocked by everyone else, and you'll lose a huge amount of money right away.)

It can be hard to find out why rules exist, but very worthwhile.