Skype Struggles Back Online As Supernodes Issue Continues

Skype has announced that around 30-percent of its regular user-base is now able to connect to the VoIP and video conferencing service, after downtime issues that began yesterday. According to the Skype blog, a software issue affected the connectivity status of the "supernodes" the service uses to route calls between users; although enterprise functionality is working normally, the company can give no estimate as to how long regular users will be without the service.

"Skype uses peer-to-peer communications in order to allow users to find one another. Consequently, a small percentage of our users will hold a record reflecting the online presence of other users. When one user holds a record concerning the presence of other users, the former is called a "supernode", or directory node." Skype support

Even when the service does come back online, certain functionality – such as the recently launched group video chat – will not be available. The company estimates that around 5m users are now able to sign in to their Skype accounts, but that's a mere 30-percent of the sort of user-base it would regularly expect to see at this time of the day.