Skype users hit with outage

Software blamed; don’t those guys know software inside and out?

Inexpensive Internet telephone provider Skype hoped to have service restored sometime today to millions of customers who were shut out Thursday by a software problem that prevented them from logging into their accounts.

It was unclear how many of the company's 220 million worldwide users - who rely on the service to make free or cheap calls and send instant messages - were affected.

Skype officials said Thursday that the blackout was caused by a software problem and apologized on the company Web site for the inconvenience.

The disruption apparently began Wednesday night and continued through much of the day Thursday. According to the Skype site, at any given time there usually are 5 million to 6 million customers using the service.

Skype has been one of the most public faces of Internet telephone service. The company, based in Luxembourg but acquired by eBay in 2005, has attracted a huge worldwide base of users who can make free, mostly PC-based telephone and video calls between members. The company, which eBay bought for $2.1 billion, also offers cheap calls to non-Skype customers.

Analyst Will Stofega of IDC said the service interruption appears to be the longest Skype has suffered. It underscores, he said, some of the uncertainty behind Internet telephone companies, which are still not as reliable as traditional providers.

"This shows that nothing is invulnerable and free of defects," Stofega said. "This may be a sign that they need to make additional investments to make sure their infrastructure keeps up with their growth."

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