Skype - Technical question

so...i have skype....and have had it for 6+ months.  i have skype in and skype out.  my question involves skype out.....

i recently downloaded the newest version (2.0.0.81) about a month ago.  since downloading it, my skype number doesn't show up as it is when i'm calling friends/family (example:  901-555-1212).  instead it shows up as "00012345...".  my friends know now that it's me calling so it's not a big deal as far as they go.

my issue is that when i call some 1-800 numbers (or any other toll free prefix), often times it tells me that they can not accept calls from "my area"....meaning to me, the system thinks i'm calling from an international location (which technically i am...but i'm on a US phone number) which would mean to me that there are higher charges incurred on their end thus why they don't/won't accept the call.  i feel as if this would be remedied if i could figure out how to get my actual number to show up on the receiving end.  i tried looking on the skype website and it wasn't much help at all.  has anyone else encountered this problem? 

i initially came across this problem when trying to contact my credit card company.  i dialed the 1-800 number and is said it wouldn't accept calls from international numbers.  fine, ok...no problem.  there is an alternate number to contact them (not a toll free number) so I was able to get that worked out.  but today, i attempted to contact my bank.  i got thru on the 1-800 number, but when i selected the option to speak to a representative, i was transferred to another number/location (where, i have no idea) and at that point it told me that they could not accept calls from my location.  if i don't know the number they are transferring me to, how am i supposed to figure out a way to contact them?

can anyone help me out with this?

Hi there,

We've been using Skype for about 6 months, we too have skype in and out. When calling the states it has always shown up with a random number, as far as I know of the Skype out isn't linked to your Skype in number.

Skype out is a non-geographical service - so it doesn't care where you are as long as you're connected to the internet. The reason it won't show your skype in number is because it links to the nearest Skype server connected to the telephone provider you're calling. So it doesn't matter if you're calling the states, australia, or your friend down the street, the call is routed by skypes server, via the net to the phone provider you're calling and turned into a normal call.

To show your skype in number it would have to route every call you make via the geographical location of that number, meaning any call you made over skype (including to your friend down the street) would have to route to the US, then onto it's destination, kinda removing the point of the internet.

(that was my husband!)   He's the geek, not me! 

aarrrrggghhhhh....that sucks!!  i guess i am going to have to figure out another way to contact my bank.  i'm sure they have an international number...somewhere.

thanks for your help...jennredd's DH!!  i appreciate it.

Dont we both have washington mutual?  I call their 800 number from our BT landline and got through fine.

yeah....i have WaMu too. 

i just assumed that calling from my landline would do the same thing, tho i haven't tried it.  but if it works on BT for you, i'm sure it'll work on NTL for me.  i'll have to try that out.

thanks!! 

You should still be able to pass ANI on to the network, which is what WATS service uses to accept or reject calls.    It sounds as though it's just a configuration setting which might be wrong somewhere. 

I'm not familiar with the Skype software, but I'd contact them and query it.

I'm sure there is an associated local number that corresponds to these companies' toll free numbers, but, as you say, they don't always list the local one.  However, if you can't resolve the situation with Skype you might want to make a one-time call to your bank and ask them what the local number is and then you can Skype-away for any future calls.