Way back in 2009, I setup an account on SKYPE
I paid for service to allow me to "CALL" all telephone numbers in North America (US and Canada) for $32 a year,
and for an additional $32 a year I could reserve a phone number so people could "CALL" me back.
It was essentially "Voice Over IP" service or VOIP .... which means phone calls using the internet ...
Worked great, and I picked a number with the same area code as where my children lived ....
I kept that service and that number active from 2009 until NOW.....
It was a good deal, for $64 a year I could make phone calls out, receive phone calls in, with no LIMIT on minutes, and send/get text messages without LIMIT as well.
Microsoft bought Skype on May 10, 2011.
And left it to die, rather than work tp promote/improve it .... it was ZOOM before ZOOM was created
but it seems clear now Microsoft killed it because as of
May 2025, SKYPE is dead, and my account is GONE .... thanks a lot, Billy Gates
I was able to claim my phone number that I grabbed in 2009, and move it to a cell phone
That number is important to me, I used it on EVERYTHING, saying it was my "home" number
people assumed it was an old-fashioned LAND-LINE, DIAL PHONE
not exactly ... but I never corrected them
I still use VOIP service, as I like taking/ getting calls on my computers (more than 3) .... but I am now using
a new whiz-bang service that does VOIP called GOOGLE VOICE .... go figure
google voice is free, but I am not certain they will allow me to keep the random number they handed to me
to use for the account (a google account, with gmail, etc ..)
in any case Rest In Peace SKYPE .... you had so much potential, and $MSFT killed you
