Discover Yahoo! With Your Friends

Explore news, videos, and much more based on what your friends are reading and watching. Publish your own activity and retain full control.

To get started, first

YOUR FRIENDS' ACTIVITY

    Skype Outage Continues for Millions

    Company Tweets that it is Working to Restore Service Quickly

    By Angie Mohr | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Thu, Dec 23, 2010
    This story comes from the Yahoo! Contributor Network, where individuals publish their unique perspectives on some of the world’s most popular websites.
    Do you have a story to tell? Become a Yahoo! contributor

    Internet phone and video service Skype reported directly to its customers on Twitter and its blog that it is working to correct a massive outage that affected almost all users Wednesday. As of Thursday morning, some customers were able to log on, but millions are still without service.

    According to Skype, the outage was caused by a massive failure of its "supernodes"- a series of routing hubs that facilitate communication between Skype users. The company is working to build new "mega-supernodes" to make a workaround for the problem. The company has not yet reported the cause of the failure.

    Many industry experts on Wednesday contemplated whether the Skype outage was caused by a denial of service (DDOS) attack. In recent weeks, hacker groups supporting the whistleblower website WikiLeaks have briefly interrupted VISA, MasterCard, and PayPal- all sites that have denied service to WikiLeaks after pressure was applied by the U.S. government. There is no indication of a relationship between Skype and WikiLeaks.

    Skype experienced a similar widespread outage in 2007, when the company was owned by eBay. However, at that time, most Skype users were individuals. Since 2007, the company has been sold to private investors and has attracted the business of companies of all sizes worldwide.

    Corporate reliance on international communications makes this service outage particularly damaging to Skype. Companies have several options when it comes to voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) service providers, and instability with the platform may cause larger corporate customers to seek other options. At a time when Skype is working up to its first initial public offering, the flight of revenues could be devastating.

    Skype's most recent blog post reports that almost 5 million people are already online, about 30 percent of normal volume, with the rest expected to have service restored later in the day. The company reports that some features, such as group video calling, will take longer to get back online.

    A recent milestone report from the company stated that it had reached a service volume of 25 million concurrent users for the first time earlier in the year, so the 30 percent figure may be low.

    According to the company, updates will continue throughout the day on both the company's blog and its Twitter feed.

     

    There are no comments yet

    [ [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 2]], 'http://yhoo.it/KeQd0p', '[Slideshow: See photos taken on the way down]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 7]], ' http://yhoo.it/KpUoHO', '[Slideshow: Death-defying daredevils]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['know that we have confidence in', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/LqYjAX ', '[Related: The Secret Service guide to Cartagena]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['We picked up this other dog and', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JUSxvi', '[Related: 8 common dog fears, how to calm them]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 5]], 'http://bit.ly/JnoJYN', '[Related: Did WH share raid details with filmmakers?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 3]], 'http://bit.ly/KoKiqJ', '[Factbox: AQAP, al-Qaeda in Yemen]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have my contacts on or glasses', 3]], 'http://abcn.ws/KTE5AZ', '[Related: Should the murder charge be dropped?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JD7nlD', '[Related: Bristol Palin reality show debuts June 19]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 1]], 'http://bit.ly/JRPFRO', '[Related: McCain adviser who vetted Palin weighs in on VP race]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['A JetBlue flight from New York to Las Vegas', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/GV9zpj', '[Related: View photos of the JetBlue plane in Amarillo]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 15]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/white-house-stays-out-of-teen-s-killing-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120411/martinzimmermen.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['Titanic', 7]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/titanic-anniversary/', ' ', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/b/4e/b4e5ad9f00b5dfeeec2226d53e173569.jpeg', '550', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['He was in shock and still strapped to his seat', 6]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/navy-jet-crashes-in-virginia-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120406/jet_ap.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['xxxxxxxxxxxx', 11]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/russian-grannies-win-bid-to-sing-at-eurovision-1331223625-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/1/56/156d92f2760dcd3e75bcd649a8b85fcf.jpeg', '500', ' ', 'AP', ] ]
    [ [ [['did not go as far his colleague', 8]], '29438204', '0' ], [ [[' the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 4]], '28924649', '0' ], [ [['because I know God protects me', 14], ['Brian Snow was at a nearby credit union', 5]], '28811216', '0' ], [ [['The state news agency RIA-Novosti quoted Rosaviatsiya', 6]], '28805461', '0' ], [ [['measure all but certain to fail in the face of bipartisan', 4]], '28771014', '0' ], [ [['matter what you do in this case', 5]], '28759848', '0' ], [ [['presume laws are constitutional', 7]], '28747556', '0' ], [ [['has destroyed 15 to 25 houses', 7]], '28744868', '0' ], [ [['short answer is yes', 7]], '28746030', '0' ], [ [['opportunity to tell the real story', 7]], '28731764', '0' ], [ [['entirely respectable way to put off the searing constitutional controversy', 7]], '28723797', '0' ], [ [['point of my campaign is that big ideas matter', 9]], '28712293', '0' ], [ [['As the standoff dragged into a second day', 7]], '28687424', '0' ], [ [['French police stepped up the search', 17]], '28667224', '0' ], [ [['Seeking to elevate his candidacy back to a general', 8]], '28660934', '0' ], [ [['The tragic story of Trayvon Martin', 4]], '28647343', '0' ], [ [['Karzai will get a chance soon to express', 8]], '28630306', '0' ], [ [['powerful storms stretching', 8]], '28493546', '0' ], [ [['basic norm that death is private', 6]], '28413590', '0' ], [ [['songwriter also saw a surge in sales for her debut album', 6]], '28413590', '1', 'Watch music videos from Whitney Houston ', 'on Yahoo! Music', 'http://music.yahoo.com' ], [ [['keyword', 99999999999999999999999]], 'videoID', '1', 'overwrite-pre-description', 'overwrite-link-string', 'overwrite-link-url' ] ]

    News For You

    Loading...

    US News »

    • Golden Gate Bridge marks 75 years since opening against steep odds Braden Reddall
      USS Iowa passes under the Golden Gate Bridge en route from Richmond, California to Los Angeles

      SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The Golden Gate Bridge was a larger than life engineering project undertaken against dangerous odds and it opened 75 years ago on Sunday against vehement protest, at the cost of 11 lives. One of the most astonishing and admired man-made wonders of the world, gracing millions of postcards, featured …

    • Two years after BP oil spill, tourists back in Gulf Coast Kathy Finn

      NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - The Gulf Coast is a hot destination again two years after the massive BP Plc oil spill made the region a tourist dead zone, with the petroleum giant pumping more than $150 million into promotions to help the region recover. In New Orleans, about 150 miles northeast of where BP's well blew up on April …

    • World War Two battleship USS Iowa sets off on final voyage Laird Harrison
      Retired military vessel USS Iowa prepares for departure from Richmond, CA en route to Los Angeles

      RICHMOND, California (Reuters) - The battleship USS Iowa, which served the United States through victory and tragedy during six decades at sea, set off on its final voyage on Saturday, a trip to Los Angeles to become a museum. With a cheer, volunteers in hard hats cast off the last of a dozen thick lines that had moored …

    • Tropical Storm Beryl edges closer to southeast U.S. coast David Beasley

      ATLANTA (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Beryl closed in on the southeastern U.S. coast on Sunday, dumping rain and whipping up heavy surf from northeastern Florida to South Carolina. The second named storm of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season is expected to make landfall later on Sunday with possible wind gusts to hurricane …

    • Calmer winds promise relief to western U.S. fire crews Zelie Pollon
      Handout photo of smoke billowing from the site of wildfires at the Whitewater-Baldy Complex in southwestern New Mexico in the Gila National Forest

      SANTA FE, New Mexico (Reuters) - Calmer winds and cooler temperatures promised relief on Sunday to fire crews battling blazes in New Mexico and Colorado, where wildfires sweeping across miles of forest, brush and grass have forced evacuations and disrupted holiday weekend travel plans. New Mexico's wildfires - which are …

     
    Episode 12: Amputee veterans take on TV celebrities in softball
    With significant physical rehabilitation, these wounded warriors perform inspiring acts of athleticism. Join the conversation.
    What is Remake America?
    Meet the six families who are relying on your suggestions to confront real challenges this election year.
    Episode 11: Hard times for Hometown Hardware
    Should Bill and Donna take on more risk to boost their business?
    Learn more about Remake America »