Microsoft internet call service Skype down worldwide for hours, blames unspecified network fault

DISCONNECTED from overseas friends and relatives? Skype may to blame, hanging up on users for up to 10 hours, with complaints still pouring in.

Microsoft's service Skype delivers voice calls over the internet.

INTERNET calls across the world had major hang ups for at least 11 hours overnight as the globe’s best known internet voice service was felled by a network error.

And while the Microsoft-owned service claimed Skype calls were “fully restored” just before 10am this morning, complaints continued to stream into its Twitter feed.

Skype, which delivered voice calls equal to 40 per cent of the international telephone call volume last year, first recognised its network issue just after 9pm last night, saying the issue prevented “some users from logging in and using Skype”.

The outage affected most of its users, with only Skype for Business subscribers left untouched.

Naturally, its millions of users took to Twitter to complain about the blackout, many using the #SkypeDown hashtag.

How we deal with @Skype being dead in the office... @SkypeSupport #SkypeDown #Skype pic.twitter.com/9JeqyQLsMJ

— Lewy (@ldhumphs) September 21, 2015

Can someone please send me a telegram when @Skype is back working! #SkypeDown #Skype

— Fred (@fredbradley) September 21, 2015

Patrick has a new job @ @Skype #SkypeDown #MobileVoip pic.twitter.com/onh0zDkCUp

— MobileVOIP (@_MobileVOIP) September 21, 2015

Oh no @Skype is offline. Quick, fix things before people find out there's better solutions out there. #SkypeDown

— Daytona ҉ (@IDSninja) September 21, 2015

Yep @Skype is better with friends. Also better when it's working. #SkypeDown pic.twitter.com/vPxv3zxkoF

— Jörgen Sundberg (@jorgensundberg) September 21, 2015

Skype, which boasted more than 4.9 million daily active users last year, was bought by Microsoft for $8.5 billion in 2011, though it now faces increasing competition.

Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Viber, Tango, and Google Hangouts all provide free voice calling over the internet, with many Skype users reporting they transferred their business to new services while the service languished overnight.