Skype back on in Phuket in time for Christmas

PHUKET: Skype internet telephone service has “stabilized” with core services returning to Phuket just in time for Christmas.

“We’ve been able to successfully stabilize Skype due to the dedicated supernodes deployed by Skype’s engineering team,” Skype CEO Tony Bates wrote on the company’s website earlier today.

“We’re at roughly 90 per cent of normal user volumes,” he said.

“Audio, video and instant messaging (IM) are running normally. But, a couple of our offerings, including offline IM and group video calling are not available yet and we are working hard to restore them in due course,” he added.

Popular online technology website TechEYE.net said an estimated 20 per cent of Skype users still cannot access the full service.

Skype’s woes began when “supernode” computers used by the system went offline Wednesday.

For our previous report click here.

The company has apologized to its millions of customers and has offered reimbursement.

Skype will be sending “pay-as-you-go” and “pre-pay” users credit via email giving them approximately 30 minutes of free call time to landlines worldwide, Mr Bates said.

“Active subscribers” will be given an extra week of services free of charge, he said.

The timing for Skype’s return to Phuket couldn’t be better, one American expat told the Gazette.

“I’m thousands of miles away from home and it’s kind of hard to get in to the Christmas spirit when it’s sunny and hot outside.

“The one thing I rely on every year to keep Christmas alive for me is a Skype video call with my family back home,” he said.

— Nicholas Altstadt