Time to Update YourSkype Profile Phone Numbers

Skype 3.5 privacy feature hides phone numbers from all Skype users except your Contacts

If you look at the Release Notes for Skype 3.5 for Windows (scroll down to 13.06.2007, version 3.5.0.107 Beta) you will find a line that reads:

feature: Private Telephone Numbers

Your Skype Profile has the option to include your Mobile, Home and Office phone numbers which become handy when your contacts want/need to call one of these numbers via SkypeOut. We are also starting to see some Skype-associated calling services that link a PSTN phone to Skype such that Skype becomes a "long distance" provider for the PSTN line. Mobivox and MyToGo are two examples of these.

Previous versions of Skype would allow any Skype user worldwide to search for your contact information and find not only your SkypeID but also these three PSTN numbers. Skype 3.5 only exposes these three phone numbers to your authorized Skype Contacts; they are no longer available to any Skype user unless you have accepted the user as one of your Contacts.

Combining these two factors, it becomes more advisable that you include at least your Mobile and Office number in your Skype Profile. (You may still wish to keep your more personal home phone number totally private.) Then your authorized contacts can, with a single click, call these alternative numbers when you are not accessible to a Skype -enabled PC or Skype phone. And it makes services such as Mobivox and MyToGo somewhat more versatile. Makes especially good sense when you are using Skype as a business communications tool.

Simply click on File | Edit your Profile in your Skype client and you can enter (or change) these numbers.

Tags: Skype, SkypeOut, Skype Profile, Mobivox, MyToGo

Skype Journal: Time to Update YourSkype Profile Phone Numbers