
Ask HN: Do you travel regularly? Would you be interested in a Skype alternative? - deepstream
I travel a lot and find Skype frustrating because it has rules for recharges based on which country you are currently in &#x2F; 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.<p>I&#x27;ve been considering building something atop Twilio to solve my own problem, and putting the business viability aside, I&#x27;m wondering if any esteemed hackeroos could see themselves using like a &quot;Web Payphone&quot; where you can make international calls through your browser, after inserting some credit.<p>I&#x27;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).<p>Apart from the retro tech fetishism of making a web based &quot;payphone&quot; (I remember them from youth), every time I need to dial international and I&#x27;m in a country, I wish I had an easy way to do it.<p>But I saw no one has made this, so I guess maybe it&#x27;s not such a great idea. Still, it would help me. I&#x27;ve been thinking about it for a while and could probably build it.<p>I should add that this would not be for &quot;Staying in touch with your friends&quot;™ it would be for &quot;utility&quot; calls, like calling your bank when you&#x27;re overseas. Not that you couldn&#x27;t call any number you like, but with Whatsapp et al why would you want to pay to do so?
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tlb
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.

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gamechangr
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.

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

