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Skype having problems?

My Skype has been logging me in and out all morning and it is showing “only” 3.3Mio users online - where have all the other 5 to 6Mio users gone?

And even when I’m online I only see a fraction of my contacts even-so they are online. Hope these guys let us know soon what is going on? Have not seen any statement?

UPDATE 10:36-BST: Online again, and so are also over 1Mio users - now back to 4.3Mio. Sorry I was too optimistic - I’m offline again?

UPDATE 10:48-BST: Online again, but lost 1.1Mio users again, can see only one of my contacts? I guess it’s official - problems at Skype! And I’m off-line again!!

UPDATE 10:58-BST: Online again, seems every ten minutes, but now only 2.7Mio users - soon there will be nobody left. I’m offline again!

UPDATE 10:59-BST: Skype admits login problem - they are not specific about it!

“Due to Peer-to-Peer network issues there are problems with Skype login. This issue is being investigated. We will give new updates when the issue has been resolved.

We apologize for any inconvenience.”

UPDATE 12:20-BST: Now we are down to 1.8Mio users. With only about 20% of its users showing online I think it is fair to say that Skype is down - a sad day for Skype and for us too - as we use Skype in our OnlineOffice console.

UPDATE 14:15-BST: Nearing the singularity - 764.324 people online and falling fast - the meltdown continues. Slowly I’m beginning to get worried about Skype - the US is about to wake up to the fact that Skype is down - now the homepage is no longer loading. No news from skype.

UPDATE 14:30-BST: Villu Arak from Skype says:

Some of you may be having problems logging in to Skype. Our engineering team has determined that it’s a software issue. We expect this to be resolved within 12 to 24 hours. Meanwhile, you can simply leave your Skype client running and as soon as the issue is resolved, you will be logged in. We apologise for the inconvenience.

With “some of you” he means over 90% of you - this is not the way to deal with this - what do they think nobody is going to notice they are down - give me a break. What a support and PR disaster - I guess not without reason has he filed his post under “Milestones”.

What is the problem anyway - a software problem or a peer to peer network issue - which one is it, or is it both problems, are there any other problems or is it something else altogether???

Just let us now - if you know - so we know what we are looking at!

UPDATE 16:35-BST: Reading some of the comments to this post and calls from clients, I would like to add the following:

we (winweb.com) will not stop working with skype in the future and I think anyone should consider what skype has done for all of us in the past,
my concern here is the way this situation is handled not with the service skype has provided, my clients are loyal skype users and deserve more communication from skype,
I just hope nothing more sinister than, a typical screw-up, hardware failure is to blame for this,

So just let us know what is going on, read some of the comments here and elsewhere to realize how important the skype service is to some people.

UPDATE 17:32-BST: My interview with the AP- Associated Press/ Matt Moore on the Skype outage.

UPDATE 07:00-BST, Aug.17th: Situation much as yesterday - after hitting about 10k users online yesterday - we are now back to 1.9Mio users and I’ currently online. Rumors are flying about a possible external hacker attack (-> see comments below) - Skype’s last announcement on the website at 05:30 GMT:

Hello everyone,

Skype is currently working on resolving the sign-on issue. We’re fixing our networking software and monitoring the clients getting online with increased success.

Please see our Heartbeat blog for ongoing updates.

And the messages are still a little confusing but we are being updated on a regular basis - very good guys, I knew you had it in you. Sten seems to be doing a good job, as what he says can be seen on the “ground”. Back to 2.5Mio now - as he says things are improving - I can see two of my contacts again.

I hope I will post my last update on this post next!

UPDATE 11:45-BST, Aug. 17th: Despite Sten’s promise no update - no service, even-so I’m connected, but to what(?) I do not know - I’m still on- and offline all the time - no change then.

I hope my staff is watching this, for when this happens to us - trust me it will happen to us one day - and when we say we are going to make an update in about four hours - we better do it. We owe that to our customers.

UPDATE 12:20-BST, Aug. 17th: Villu posted a few moments ago:

Hello all,

As Europe has woken up to a new day and Asia is entering the evening hours, here’s the latest on the sign-on problem.

We’re on the road to recovery. Skype is stabilizing, but this process may continue throughout the day.

An encouraging number of users can now use Skype once again. We know we’re not out of the woods yet, but we are in better shape now than we were yesterday.

Finally, we’d like to dispel a couple of theories that we are still hearing. Neither Wednesday’s planned maintenance of our web-based payment services nor any form of attack was related to the current sign-on issues in any way.

We’ll update you again as soon as we can. Thanks for hanging tight.

Believe it or not, that is good news in a way “…nor any form of attack..”, I am happy to live for another day or so without this “great & free service” - mind you I have SkypeIn & Out, in short I’m a Skype junkie - but if this would have been caused by an external attack I would have been worried for the future.

I will make this my last update for now - as I feel you’ll be better served by going onto the Skype Heartbeat website, since they seem to update us all on a semi regular basis - I will only be back if there are “other & unforeseen” developments. Leaves me to wish the Skype boys & girls best of luck to get this fixed ASAP.

Moving On - waiting for my button to turn green.

UPDATE 16:40-BST, August 17th: Unfortunately Skype has decided not to communicate with it’s customers & clients. The situation is not improving - online, but can’t see anyone - about 2.2Mio users showing.

We’ll update you again as soon as we can. Thanks for hanging tight.

This was now about six hours ago - no improvement, no update - they should update us at fixed intervals. I would think Skype can get one person to keep it’s customers informed. What is going on - are we being told the real story? I’m beginning to wonder!!!

Needless to mention here that their own deadline - 12 to 24 hours - is up and gone.

Judging by same of the comments on my blog and others, things are getting pretty unpleasant out there - why is Skype behaving this way, when it is all so avoidable - any idea?

PLEASE NOTE: may I remind my readers that I approve your comments on an individual basis, there is a line I’m not willing to cross, so please don’t waste your and my time with abusive comments, they will not get published. Nobody understands better than I do, what Skype’s service has come to mean to us all - but that does excuse abusive messages.
I thank you all for your comments.

UPDATE 18:10-BST, August 17th: Not much change, no news, 3.5Mio users show online, service not available, get online and offline all the time, like I said, not much change.

I’m still stunned by this utter PR and customer support disaster so I decided to do one of my Small Business Checklists for my usual readers and on this occasion for Skype, it is about Handling Customer Care.

Maybe someone in Skype is still reading blogs, if so have a look at it - PLEASE.

UPDATE 21:20-BST, August 17th: There is no news from Skype on their Heartbeat website, the last message was over 10 hours ago, unbelievable. However I have found an article in the New York Times with some more insight. It reads something like this:

…… But they said that while they had pinpointed the source of the problem, they still did not know why it had resulted in a network failure, and they could not ensure that the service would be running smoothly again by Friday.

“There is a chance this could go on beyond tomorrow, but it’s our hope that it’s going to be resolved,” Kurt Sauer, Skype’s chief security officer, said. “What happened today was caused by a unique set of events, the genesis of which is not entirely understood ……

It gets more and more interesting, they say it’s a login problem, yet I login, but get no service - even if I see other contacts? Is that a login problem??? What remains is that I’m still stunned by their unbelievable customer service.

UPDATE 04:30-BST, August 18th: At 01:44 AM this morning Skype reported that all is back to normal, good news:

Hello again,

We are pleased to announce that the situation continues to improve. The sign-on problems have been resolved. Skype presence and chat may still take a few more hours to be fully operational. We know what our faithful users have been going through and we thank you for your patience and kind support.

If you are one of the minority who may still be experiencing problems, please be patient. You do not need to adjust or restart your computer. Skype will start working for you very soon.

We will issue a further update when we know that Skype is functioning normally, or if there is further material news.

We’ve commandeered extra supplies of pizza and coffee, and we can promise that the Skype people aren’t going anywhere until they’re happy that everything is back to normal.

(Posted at 00.02 AM GMT)

(Update at 1:44 AM GMT: Please ignore the “Problems with Skype login” text in the Heartbeat status box above, next to “Sign-in and registration”, as well as “P2P network core”. The text should read “All working normally”.)

It is showing over 4Mio users online, could not test it as most of my contacts are in bed and my staff in Australia is on weekend leave - so that will have to wait until the morning.

Let us hope that this is the end for most of the users and that this is not the end of the matter for Skype, and that they will perform a post-mortem in which the will establish a proper “Incident Management Plan”, especially in relations to it’s customers.

Here a link to my interview with Juan Perez of the IDG News Service for PC World and others.

And now finally ….. moving on.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 16th, 2007 at 10:27 am and is filed under Comments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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37 Responses to “Skype having problems?”

Neil

Said on August 16th, 2007 at 11:00 am
Well its driving me round the twist. My contacts keep dropping in and out. Currently they only show 2.7Million users online. Does anyone know whats going on with them?
THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG » Blog Archive » Skype Down - WinWeb Slow the price of mash-up.
http://www.sme-blog.com/winweb/saas/skype-down-winweb-slow-the-price-of-mash-up

Said on August 16th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
[…] Neil Well its driving me round the twist. My contacts keep dropping in and out. Currently they only show… […]
Dirk
http://dirksmetric.wordpress.com/2007/08/16/skype-network-problems/

Said on August 16th, 2007 at 1:06 pm
I think, people are just slowly picking up that there actually IS a problem with Skype. Everybody experiences Skype problems once in a while and it has proven itself to be quite reliable. So… no worries usually. But I think it’s getting started.

I can only guess what’s going with Skype but it appears to me that the network gets fragmented. Nodes (Clients) get disconnected or disconnect themselves for some reason. Nodes getting disconnect also disconnect other nodes, especially if they are one of the heavy duty nodes that constitute the hubs of the Skype network. Then millions of nodes try to reconnect to other hubs, causing quite some load to them and maybe causing them to go down again. It could be some sort of vicious circle.
Morten Sørensen
http://tyksak.net/?p=101

Said on August 16th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
I wrote about it on my blog and Im online at the moment, Im using V3.1.0.152, I dont know if that has something to do with it.

My users are noticing the problem though.

The “Skype Test Call” works
Amir

Said on August 16th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
any buddy have any IDea how much time skype guys take to fix this problem ???
Axel

Said on August 16th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
good to know I’m not the only one. I’ve just moved flat and thought it was a problem with the WLAN.
DSM

Said on August 16th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
Thanks to you all for the information.

I have also had my skype going on and off all morning. I have even downloaded the new update. Is it confirmed they have a problem? I followed all their online suggestions and still I have it going on and off it too is driving round the bend!!! The number of users has gone below 800k which tells me i am not the only one!! please keep me informed
Hank
http://www.lifeintheuk.net

Said on August 16th, 2007 at 2:43 pm
Ugh! This outage is a real pain. We’re heavily dependent on Skype for communication with customers and our contractors. I never thought for a minute that we’d experience something like this. My trust is shaken - and now I’m thinking I need a contingency plan if this happens in the future.
Tom Chiverton
http://falkensweb.com

Said on August 16th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
@Hank: Now is a good time to review your contingency and disaster recovery plans
robby

Said on August 16th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
My trust is also shaken. My business relies on skype communication. It shouldnt’ take more than 12 hours to fix this system glitch or else many businesses will suffer.
DSM

Said on August 16th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
I do love it when the internet works!! I have been contacted by skype support and you can see the entire story on http://heartbeat.skype.com/ I agree with others that I will also look into an alternative just as a safe guard. Anyone have any comments on Vonage??
Amir

Said on August 16th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
try voipstunt it is also gud and cheap right now im using voipstunt
drixter’s blog » Archiwum bloga » Awaria w Skype
http://drixter.e-utp.net/2007/08/16/awaria-w-skype/

Said on August 16th, 2007 at 7:00 pm
[…] Small Business Blog […]
Amir

Said on August 16th, 2007 at 7:30 pm
Hi guys,

i’ll recommend you don’t trust only one VOIP company I never even think about it skype can be down I have flight 2day that’s why I had 2 call my wife but because of skype :S …. so just I shifted other voip so pls pls don’t trust…. im very disappointed from skype I was skype lover
Maria

Said on August 16th, 2007 at 8:46 pm
at first, this morning, I at least got halfway in to my skype..I could see my contacts and so on.
Now it’s realy dead.. R.I.P

We have used SKYPE for a long time and we swiched from a ordinary phone-company cause it was always working, easy to use and cheap ratings… BUT…

That it will take 12-24 hours to fix scares me a bit.. Doesn’t they have back-up’s!?
Michael
http://www.thewritestuff.be/

Said on August 16th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
Just as I have several e-mail addresses, I keep a landline and use Skype as well as other services. For me, it’s totally free as I don’t use the out service and it’s usually people calling me anyway.

A quick e-mail to the urgent callers was enough to let them know there was a problem. I think some people are over-reacting a bit.
pss7
http://pss7.at

Said on August 16th, 2007 at 10:49 pm
take a look at http://support.skype.com/
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Settings table not built, please goto Settings > General and click Update
screenshoot at http://pss7.at/index.php/2007/08/16/skype-out-durch-datenbank-eindringling/
» Skype Caught With Pants DownPalm Springs SEO | Palm Springs Search Engine Optimization and SEO Training by The Web Optimist
http://www.weboptimist.com/skype-caught-with-pants-down/2007/08/16/

Said on August 16th, 2007 at 11:38 pm
[…] the comments left on the Skype blog by frustrated users, “some” was an understatement. Apparently millions are affected. I also couldn’t get to the Skype support forums, probably due to an overload of […]
Alan Dean
http://www.sellingdownunder.com

Said on August 17th, 2007 at 2:26 am
I am in Belgium and run a business that is Aussie-centric. I have used Skype since it started and for the most part have been very satisfied. But from Thursday morning, Skype has gone up and down like Tower Bridge. Indeed, as I write this, the Skype button has gone grey/green/grey/green constantly. Like others I will stay with Skype (I am optimistic they will solve the problem) but have meanwhile installed Wengophone as a back-up. Glad to see this blog has been keeping a close eye on things — thanks for that.
pol

Said on August 17th, 2007 at 3:10 am
Check out http://www.openwengo.org/, an open-source, free alternative to skype including SIP
Neciy
http://www.events-cannes.com

Said on August 17th, 2007 at 9:25 am
Why not just try another voip provider like http://www.voipbuster.com/en/download.html or is it to logical
e-alvaro
http://www.e-alvaro.net

Said on August 17th, 2007 at 9:41 am
10:40 am CET

@ Michael - http://www.thewritestuff.be/

Good to know that they are some cleaver users on internet whom always keep a Plan B. Does anyone imagine Mc Guyver fixin everythin without plan B??? Come on guys…. He’would never had succeeded.
Michael was right: “I think some people are over-reacting a bit”.
And i would say to those whom a still whinging ’bout it…. get a landline…. and stop complaining…
Or at least try to understand that 9Mil. of users on-line, must need a f***** massive infrastructure and quite a good software to deal with all this…. People are working to fix it… and they are doin a pretty good job as far as the situation is being sorted… Let’s Cheer Up for the Skype fixin team…. We believe in you!!! And for those who still unhappy….. Go get a fax machine…. and stick it…… i’ll say somewhere on desk….lol @ e-alvaro.net we’ll still use and trust Skype…
Yours…..
Alvaro
Skype problēmas » Latvijas interneta pods
http://pods.lv/blog/2007/08/skype_problemas.html

Said on August 17th, 2007 at 10:02 am
[…] ir globālas Skype tīkla problēmas. Cilvēki vēl šodien ņemās. Daži nonāk līdz tam, ka pat piefiksē pa stundām, kas un kad notika. Šodien arī visu laiku brūk nost. Šī it kā esot pirmā reize, kad tik ilgi […]
nikhil

Said on August 17th, 2007 at 10:27 am
every new born baby born is now a software plucker………..isnt there any other guyz to fix up this nasty login issue of this skype??????
Dan

Said on August 17th, 2007 at 10:29 am
Just 2 links that change the POV:

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=683
http://www.securitylab.ru/poc/extra/301419.php

If there is just a little truth on this - this is a pr nightmare with skype announcing soooo early this is not an attack.

I dont see yet how they wanna fix something like that server side + how you wanna update all the hardware asap ? If Skype has the infrastructure there always pretend to have its not an easy thing to fix.

NOW this is getting interesting - was skype clever enough to build in stuff to actually be able to somewhat control there p2p network or not.

http://share.skype.com/stats_rss.xml - dropping again so i doubt its over yet - http://webtown.typepad.com/ the graphs looks pretty ugly anyhow
And where is there 3.5.0.214 some people did talk about - at least there is no changelog on it.

/me gets some popcorn and awaits whats coming next

PS: i learned a lot from this for the product we will lunch soon - thx already Ebay
PPS: people who want to learn more about skype - http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~salman/skype/ - maybe its about time to change the moduli and restart the network ? :O - http://www.blackhat.com/presentations/bh-europe-06/bh-eu-06-biondi/bh-eu-06-biondi-up.pdf
nuR421
http://aihome.eu

Said on August 17th, 2007 at 10:47 am
@e-alvaro - You should not confuse p2p (peer to peer) technology with a heavily server based infrastructure. Sure, they need servers to handle the authentifications and their paid services, landline connects etcetera; the skype2skype service though is almost purely run by skype clients that act as nodes and thus “link between each other”. Also you can clearly see that this happened after some maintainance was done on the servers (see the skype heartbeat for more information) and thus you’d have to ask yourself: Why do they act so careless without stress testing new implementations? This is not a random error or a hardware/infrastructure issue - it’s most likely human made.

When a company offers a service it has to make sure that it can deliever it and that it can be maintained. Thats the point here and right now skype seems to fail it.

Regards,
nuR421
Ivan

Said on August 17th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
Check out www.eldotel.com as a voip alternative. Low monthly fee, included are over 30 countries (landline). It works anywhere in the world where you have a broadband connection. It also comes with a softphone (you can use your account to make calls through your computer, no matter where you are).
Alan Dean
http://www.sellingdownunder.com

Said on August 17th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
It seems this discussion is pulling in two directions. On the one hand are the hard hit business users who just want to get back their free/cheap way of communicating through Skype. On the other are the techies, talking in nodes and p2p and everything in between. In the meantime, Skype is still hors de combat (yeah, I can use jargon too)with no more news from Estonia or Luxembourg as to what is going on. Estonia and Luxembourg — what a combination Skype has! Sounds like a European Song Festival set up: and with that in mind, Belgium gives Skype ‘nul point’
nikhil

Said on August 17th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
yeh yeh yeh……the discussions goin te unexpected way……but could anybody suggest a soln to it???? m gettin cracked up…….after all discussions are to find a soln to a problem!!!!!
Stefan Töpfer
http://www.winweb.com

Said on August 17th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
Hi nikhil,

I guess the skype boys are working on a solution - but I understand your and others frustration. There is a lot to learn still for all of us online software and service providers - let’s hope lessons will be learned from this - Skype should be the better for it.

I have to admit that the announced 12-24 hours are up.
nuR421
http://aihome.eu

Said on August 17th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
@Alan

If your comment is related to mine then sorry. It seems that it mentioned a few techie terms but it’s a techie topic after all. We’re not talking about a damaged landline here, we’re talking about a phone that is not working because other phones magically “think” they do not want to work for this one service provider.

But then again. If you rethink the situation then Skype handles the issue in a unprofessional way. They seem to have no respect for their users, clients and customers. (And yes, I do consider even a non-paying user 1: a potential customer 2: an individual who will promote my brand)

They are not giving any details on what the error was, where it came from, how they try to solve it and WHEN this will be cleared. What do they expect businesses to tell their customers? Or even individuals to their contacts? What about media? Maybe we even have to believe that this was done on purpose to confuse media reports and make it seem a “minor problem”?

Also, the software caused many people to panic and seek the error out in their own systems - it’s not even saying “I have a problem here”, it’s just not working. Thats unprofessional.

Supporting something that has proven to fail can only be considered fanboyism - it’s not something that can be sold to customers and told to friends.
They’re using proprietary code on a communication protocoll on purpose - actually thats maybe why they’re so arrogant. I believe that it’ll be healthy to strongly support alternatives from now on and the best path should go in the direction of open source or at leat open protocolls.

The people who are in panic now are maybe a bit “off”, but it clearly shows that they expected a magical thing from a very mysterious company that keeps many secrets about how their technology works, including how fail safe it is. And obviously… well, all you know the story.

Regards,
nuR421
Stefan Töpfer
http://www.winweb.com

Said on August 17th, 2007 at 4:36 pm
I agree, even non paying customers for a free service are customers and should most certainly be respected. That is exactly the issue I have with Skype at the moment.

Having been in internet business for almost 18 years now, I have had problems like this in the past with my companies, unfortunately these problems will happen. I do not criticize Skype for having a problem, but if they do not tell us the truth, then my trust will be gone and with that my business. I have about 200k users on my platform all with Skype access, this is not good for my business - yet I’m not able to get more information from Skype.

I will wait until this is over and see …..

ST
Skype Problem - CS Internet Blog
http://www.cs-internet.de/software/skype-problem

Said on August 17th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
[…] Hunderttausende oder eher Millionen Leute miteinander kommunizieren können. Wer nochmal ein Verlauf der Probleme sehen will sollte mal bei Stefan Töpfers Small Business Blog vorbeischauen der wohl auch recht […]
THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG » Blog Archive » Small Business & Skype Checklist: Handling Customer Care
http://www.sme-blog.com/how-to/small-business-skype-checklist-handling-customer-care

Said on August 17th, 2007 at 6:07 pm
[…] nuR421 @Alan If your comment is related to mine then sorry. It seems that it mentioned a few… aihome.eu […]
Alan Dean
http://www.sellingdownunder.com

Said on August 17th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
The weekend is here and hopefully most Skype business users will be able to ‘take a deep breath’ as Skype is always saying and hope that the problem is solved before start of business on Monday morning.

Here in Belgium there has been intermittent service, but oddly enough (can anyone explain this) I had service for two hours late Friday afternoon, and managed to make a couple of Skype-out calls, but a colleague just a block away was still in the ‘grey button zone’ If it is of any importance (I am not a techie type so I wouldn’t know) he uses the same ISP — Belgian Telenet).

As I write this at 22,30 local time, I am still bouncing in and out of the grey zone. Like many others, I have now started to use another system as back-up (WengoPhone)and I wonder how this whole debacle is going to affect Skype in the long term.

And how will it affect the parent company E-bay on the Nasdaq? There is already a deal of viral spruiking going on for other VOIP providers — and it could take a slice off of E-bay’s share price. But let’s not go there: let’s hope this weeked will give the guys at Skype time to get their act together. Anybody going to join me in a drink to that?
Stefan Töpfer
http://www.winweb.com

Said on August 17th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
Alan, I share that sentiment - have a great weekend everyone - lets hope the world is back to normal on Monday!

ST
e-alvaro
http://www.e-alvaro.net

Said on August 18th, 2007 at 9:57 am
@ Alan Dean
http://www.sellingdownunder.com

I guess the situation has been sorted as far as i’m online since a while without disconnection….. I’m keen for that drink…. lol Can’t move from my place…. but thinking about a BBQ to go with the drink…..;-)