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Skype is gone - how to call phone numbers from your computer now
بهروزشده در 14 اکتبر 2026
Plenty of people never used Skype to talk to other Skype users. They used it to call a phone: a parent's landline, a bank that only answers on a geographic number, an office in another country. That is the part that quietly disappeared - and a messenger is not a replacement for it, because a messenger only reaches people who installed the same messenger. What you need is something that dials a number.
What actually changed
Microsoft retired Skype on 5 May 2025. The retirement covers both free and paid consumer Skype; Skype for Business is a separate product and is not part of it.
The paid calling side was wound down first: new purchases of Skype Subscriptions, Skype Numbers and Skype Credit are no longer available, and automatic top-up ended on 3 April 2025. Existing calling and Skype Number subscriptions kept renewing until that date and then ran out their term.
Credit and subscriptions that people already held did not vanish on retirement day. Microsoft kept the Skype Dial Pad available in the Skype web portal and inside Teams Free, so remaining balance could still be spent and an existing Skype Number could still receive calls for the rest of its subscription. What is gone is the ability to buy more.
For everything else, Microsoft points Skype users to Microsoft Teams Free, where you sign in with your Skype credentials. Your old Skype chats and call history stay there only if you used Skype between December 2024 and February 2025 and then Teams Free before 1 December 2025; for everyone else, Microsoft says the data is deleted after 15 June 2026. Teams Free is described in terms of one-to-one and group calls, messaging, file sharing and meetings - that is people-to-people calling, the same shape as any messenger.
What you need from a replacement
If your Skype habit was "open the laptop and call a number", the replacement has to do that one thing well. Most of the apps suggested as alternatives are messengers, and a messenger fails the first test on this list.
- It calls ordinary landlines and mobiles, not just other accounts on the same service.
- The person you call installs nothing, signs up for nothing and does not need to know what you are calling from.
- It runs in the browser, so it works on a work laptop, a borrowed computer or a desktop with no SIM card in it.
- You pay per minute for the calls you make, without committing to a monthly plan or a prepaid balance you may never finish.
How to call a phone number from your browser
Browzerphone is a dialler that lives on a web page. There is no download and no configuration - the four steps below are the whole thing.
- 1Open Browzerphone in your browser and allow it to use your microphone when the browser asks.
- 2Create an account with your email address. Nothing is installed on your computer.
- 3Add a small amount of credit, so calls are paid for as you make them rather than by subscription.
- 4Type the number in international form - a plus sign, the country code, then the local number without its leading zero - and press call. If you are not sure of the code, look it up first.
Skype Credit vs pay-as-you-go
Skype Credit was a prepaid balance you topped up in advance and drew down per minute; a subscription bought a bundle of minutes to one region each month. Both are closed to new customers now, so neither is a plan you can start today.
Pay-as-you-go works the same way from the caller's side without the lock-in: you are charged for the minutes you actually use, at the rate for the number you dialled. What matters is the destination, not where you are sitting - calling a London landline costs the same from Warsaw as from Manchester.
Rates differ per country and often between landlines and mobiles, so check the destination before a long call. Every rate is listed on the rates page, and each country has its own page with the current per-minute price.
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Can Microsoft Teams Free call phone numbers?
Microsoft describes Teams Free in terms of one-to-one and group calls, messaging, file sharing and meetings - calling between people on the service. Calls to ordinary phone numbers ran through the Skype Dial Pad, which Microsoft kept in Teams Free and the Skype web portal for people spending remaining Skype Credit or an existing subscription. Since new Skype Credit and subscriptions are no longer sold, a new user has nothing to spend there.
Do I need the other person to install anything?
No. Browzerphone places the call over the phone network, so it arrives as an ordinary incoming call. The person you reach needs no app, no account and no internet connection - just a phone that rings.
Does it work on a laptop with no SIM card?
Yes. The call goes out over your internet connection from a browser tab, so any laptop or desktop with a microphone works. No SIM, no phone line and no desk phone are involved.
Can I call landlines?
Yes - landlines and mobiles both. That is the whole point of a dialler rather than a messenger: you enter a phone number, not a username.
What does it cost?
You pay per minute for the call you make, and the rate depends on the country and on whether the number is a landline or a mobile. Check the destination on the rates page before you dial - there is no subscription to start.
Call a real phone number from this browser
Sign up, add a little credit and dial. Nothing to install on your side, nothing to install on theirs.
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بهروزشده در 14 اکتبر 2026