Skype info

Wed Dec 22 20:52:11 UTC 2010

Skype downtime today

Earlier today, we noticed that the number of people online on Skype
was falling, which wasn’t typical or expected, so we began to
investigate.

Skype isn’t a network like a conventional phone or IM network –
instead, it relies on millions of individual connections between
computers and phones to keep things up and running. Some of these
computers are what we call ‘supernodes’ – they act a bit like phone
directories for Skype. If you want to talk to someone, and your Skype
app can’t find them immediately (for example, because they’re
connecting from a different location or from a different device) your
computer or phone will first try to find a supernode to figure out how
to reach them.

Under normal circumstances, there are a large number of supernodes
available. Unfortunately, today, many of them were taken offline by a
problem affecting some versions of Skype. As Skype relies on being
able to maintain contact with supernodes, it may appear offline for
some of you.

What are we doing to help? Our engineers are creating new
‘mega-supernodes’ as fast as they can, which should gradually return
things to normal. This may take a few hours, and we sincerely
apologise for the disruption to your conversations. Some features,
like group video calling, may take longer to return to normal.

Stay tuned to @skype on Twitter for the latest updates on the
situation – and many thanks for your continued patience in the
meantime.

On 22 December 2010 15:46, Jack Carrozzo <jack at crepinc.com> wrote:
>
> On Wed, Dec 22, 2010 at 3:29 PM, Paul Graydon <paul at paulgraydon.co.uk>wrote:
> >
> >
> >>  Details are on their blog: http://bit.ly/edtjxB
>
>
> %wget http://blogs.skype.com/ -O/dev/null
> --2010-12-22 20:45:36--  http://blogs.skype.com/
> Resolving blogs.skype.com... 204.9.163.155
> Connecting to blogs.skype.com|204.9.163.155|:80... failed: Operation timed
> out.
>
> ...
>
> -Jack