Skype To Feature Giant Ads 178
benfrog writes "Skype will be introducing a new 'feature' into calls for users don't have subscriptions or credit. Giant ads. They are actually calling them 'Conversation ads' because they hope the ads (as large as the picture of the person to whom you are speaking) will 'spark additional topics of conversation that are relevant to Skype users and highlight unique and local brand experiences.' The ads, of course, are tailored to each individual user, though there is an opt-out for that."
A recent conversation (Score:5, Funny)
What the fuck is up with this fucking ad and how the fuck do I get rid of it?
Re:A recent conversation (Score:5, Funny)
- What? What ad are you seeing?
- Its some damned ad for. . . [cash register sound effect]
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Speaking as a (balanced) Apple defender, it's not like Apple's any better.
Examples: Facetime, iMessage, Siri blocked to other platforms after acquisition, some acquired desktop programs dropping Windows support, etc. Hell some of their flagship features and apps don't inter-operate with other Apple hardware--the Facetime/iChat video chat schism is a glaring example.
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What the fuck is up with this fucking ad and how the fuck do I get rid of it?
You got me. How 'bout we try Jitsi.
Re:A recent conversation about closed standards (Score:5, Informative)
You can use Skype if you wish. Somehow I see alternatives gaining traction.
SIP protocol for VOIP supports video from several vendors for free. Some SIP providers provide free VOIP gateways to/from Skype and Google Talk.
You can ring my POTS phone plugged into a SIP ATA (analog telephone adaptor) suchas a Linksys PAP2T from Skype, Google Talk, SIP, or a plain POTS phone for free. No ads, no Skype-In expense. I call all of US and Canada for free dialing with Google Talk. No cost for Skype out.
Other than the optional Linksys box purchase, the calls are free.
SIP provider with free Skype gateway - ippi.fr
Free US DID number for free in calls from POTS - IPKall
Free calling to US and Canada linked to IPKall number and SIP -- Google Voice (limited locations)
Free SIP softphone for Linux as an alternate to the Linksys box - Ekiga.net or Twinkle.
Why pay for Skype-in or out minutes? Ads are optional.
Re:A recent conversation about closed standards (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, that will be so easy for my family and friends to figure out how to implement. Maybe I should just dig a dedicate landline to all their houses while I'm at it.
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Yeah, that will be so easy for my family and friends to figure out how to implement. Maybe I should just dig a dedicate landline to all their houses while I'm at it.
Good example of why they should have Apple products and use Facetime.
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You hit the nail on its head,sir! Congratulations!
Swapping a locked in proprietary solution for another locked in proprietary solution seems like a well thought out strategy.
V long-sighted.
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I know what you mean, it's been bugging me that I can't email people using their phone number.
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So you want to switch from one locked-in product to another, and transfer the cost from viewing adverts to up-front purchases?
Google Talk and Google+ are actually pretty good for this, and both will run on existing Skype compatible hardware (i.e. a PC or Android/iOS phone/tablet).
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couple of cans, some rope and you are good to go.
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You can use Skype if you wish. Somehow I see alternatives gaining traction.
Skype used to be great and everyone was on it. Now not so much. I have a lot better luck getting people on Google Talk. And Skype just seems to suck a lot lately in terms of dropped calls, stuttering sound and slow status updates. On my Android tablet it runs for an average of maybe 10 minutes before the app crashes. Looks to me like quality control ended when Microsoft bought the business.
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You can use Skype if you wish. Somehow I see alternatives gaining traction.
SIP protocol for VOIP supports video from several vendors for free.
I recently had a similar thought. I've been using Skype while living in Germany to keep in touch with my long-distance girlfriend for the last few months. I figured, let's give SIP a go, and give Skype the boot.
In summary: SIP is flaky as hell when both parties are behind NAT. Sometimes it works, but most of the time, it doesn't.
The big thing Skype has going for it is "it just works". No need to forward firewall ports, and no worries about whether it works when one party is behind a particular brand of
More importandly: (Score:2, Interesting)
Please point me to a open source equivalent that can do video too.
(And that I can use with my grandma, who can't handle anything more complex than a iPad. *sadface*)
SIP only works with audio, as far as I know
XMPP's Jingle can also only do audio, as far as I know.
And in any case, I don’t know any client that does video.
MSN, Yahoo and ICQ do video, don’t they?
(But it was usually not really good quality, and complicated to get to work. Plus, I did never see it work with open-source clients. [Includ
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I don't see how this is going to push anyone towards Apple products.
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It'll be a huge boost to Apple's proprietary equivalent,
More likely it'll be huge boost to several scattered cross-platform alternatives like Tango, Viber, Fring or GTalk/VTok, at least in in the short term.
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People there are switching to Viber in droves.
It's a fickle market these days.
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Viber is okay, used it while my wife was in Philippines with me back home in Sweden.
Sound quality is normally okay, but the latency can be pretty bad sometimes. Up to a couple of seconds. And no video calls.
I'm not to fond of Skype, but it works very well, has video calls, and no latency that was noticeable.
Re:A recent conversation (Score:5, Insightful)
Or, I could spent a fiver, and the ad disappears.
For how long?
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The point is, surely, that spending disposable income on an iPhone or Mac is not a preferable option when others exist like, say, moving to Ekiga?
I think the idea that people will say "I don't like ads, but I don't mind spending $1000 on a Mac" is a bit... bonkers.
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No, it is no boost for people already using ios. The boost is the additional people it will spur to take up ios devices who might have been otehrwise satisfied with skype.
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Confusingly, this is old news. I've been staring at these horrible bastardizations for over a month. (I use 'staring at' in a lose sense; what I really mean is a grey square that marks the spot where my HOSTS file and I finally said "we shall not yield.") I guess no one else here is actually unlucky enough to have to use Skype on a regular basis?
(But seriously. Thanks for the link. Now, to switch to Ekiga.)
Can't Wait (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Can't Wait (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Can't Wait (Score:5, Funny)
Because he was able to block the Cialis ads...
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Prior to the microsoft buyout that would have expected something like that. Now I would expect to see less sketchy site ads, and eventually things like trying to recognize keywords/phrases in your speech and highlighting products consistent with what you talked about. So rather than have sketchy ads you have a sketchy service.
For all of the many things wrong with microsoft, they try and bury the sketchier side of their business from public view. But if I call my girlfriend and skype to talk about dinner,
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Apparently you've never tried Windows Live Messenger (MSN Messenger) Microsofts, IM program which is FUCKING PLAGUED WITH ADS all over the fucking place. To make it wose, Its the worst UI ever.
There are no good IM programs/networks anymore. Google talk is it, but they never update their desktop client. Now Skype is going to shit? WTF?!
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Yes but I dont want to load my browswer when I want to IM someone. If I want to send someone a file through my browser Gtalk, how do you do that?
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They aren't there yet to be sure. I'm thinking more longer term plan than whomever is stupid enough to pay for ads in this plan at the moment.
Re:Can't Wait (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Can't Wait (Score:5, Funny)
I'm afraid to ask:
- What's a "flesh" light? Some kind of glowing clit ring?
Re:Can't Wait (Score:5, Funny)
God I hope you're joking. If you are not, welcome to the internet; wondrous sights await you!
Re:Can't Wait (Score:5, Funny)
He's too busy configuring his 30 Linux boxes to actually do anything useful.
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Oh yes, the Internet. Or perhaps you mean the dodgy pop culture parts that expect everyone to be a narcissistic masturbating monkey.
Re:Can't Wait (Score:4, Funny)
Narcissism is optional.
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Get away from your keyboard and walk into your local porno shop. A whole new world awaits you, one which Google simply cannot provide online.
who's locality? (Score:2)
I'm just wondering who the brands in the ads will be local to? Me or the relative on the other side of the world I'm speaking to.
When the housewives speak to troops in Iraq will it strike up a conversation on the best local store to buy suicide bombers vests?
When I speak to my Russian friends will all my ads get served up with incomprehensible type containing the letter R backwards?
Or maybe someone in the UK will be interested in the new toll road opening in my city.
Marketing.... (Score:4, Funny)
Marketing department: They are not ads, they are conversation starters. Therefore you should read every one, click on them, purchase something from the site, then talk to your friend on Skype about how great they are!
monty python did it first (Score:5, Funny)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkp7f8IxJNU [youtube.com]
It's like they're reading my mind (Score:3)
Re:It's like they're reading my mind (Score:5, Funny)
What's more fascinating than discussing ads?
Squirting a Zune track?
time for some serious ekiga development... (Score:1)
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Don't worry, the Linux version won't have these ads. It won't be updated for that.
Also, MS didn't abandon the Linux version. Skype did it loooong before.
Skype protocols (Score:2)
No ads so far, but why would they suddenly release an update after doing nothing for years? ...
Because the whole skype business model (selling skype-in/-out minutes) relies on having a controlled market locked-in through a proprietary protocol.
But recent advances in reverse engineering the skype protocole [blogspot.de] might represent a menace to the business model. Time to shift to a newer (not yet reversed) protocol, which the old 2.x generation of skype software might not have supported.
Might also something to do to some obscure wire tapping legislation which microsoft or skype has to comply to and which wouldn
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Honestly, speaking as someone who has used Linux since 1998 and used it pretty much exclusively for about half of that time (and a couple of years of the non-exclusivity was because I was using BSD), if it had been my decision, I'd probably have abandoned the Linux version of Skype too.
The Linux version of Skype was basically a steaming pile of rabbit droppings. It felt totally out of place on a Linux desktop (due mostly to completely ignori
PulseAudio and other recent improvements (Score:2)
PulseAudio has been a great help. Since 2.1 skype can send all of its audio to/from pulseaudio, and let pulseaudio handle (well) all the problems related to routing sound to/from the correct hardware device, and handling multiple software trying to play audio on a sound card not supporting hardware mixing. Until then audio support has been catastrophic as any closed source application which can't be patched to play nicely along other software fighting for control of the sound card.
Also, because it's closed
pulseaudio (Score:2)
You should definitely update to skype 2.1 and let pulseaudio handle (much better) this kind of audio routing problems
Conversation relevant ads (Score:3)
"Looks like you're going to be in the doghouse tonight. Would you like to order some flowers?"
See, This Shit is Why (Score:4, Funny)
- Bill Hicks, 1961-1992
Thank $deity Bill isn't around to see this shit...
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Skype alternatives? (Score:1)
There have to be some decent alternatives out there.. right?
(Popularity aside, of course.)
I mean making a decent voice/video chat program doesn't seem like a huge task... and Skype has demonstrated many times that it sucks very much.. so the market for alternatives is there.
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There have to be some decent alternatives out there.. right? (Popularity aside, of course.)
I'll second that request...
Wouldn't it be possible to have a reasonably stable P2P network without any central servers? This would eliminate the need to rely on an advertisement company for free callse. It could be hard to store the address book for access from multiple computers, one would need encryption and a DHT.
It's like on Facebook (Score:3)
Where I see an ad, and I immediately post a status update about the awesome ad I just saw.
Oh.
No.
I don't really do that. I won't do it on Skype either. Anyone noticing a trend with companies increasing prices this past year? Comcast raised their rates from $60 unlimited TV to $60 + $7 each extra TV. Sounds like a bargain unless you are the typical house with 3-4 TVs, then you spend more.
Verizon raised their rates from $60 unlimited phone calling to $90 for just 1GB. Dish Network eliminated their $20/month Family Plan, so now the cheapest rate is $35/month, and my phone company just tacked on an extra $1/month for 911 service. Companies are scrambling for extra cash.
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and my phone company just tacked on an extra $1/month for 911 service
Those greedy bastards!
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Considering 911 service was Free for the last ~12 years, it is pretty greedy to suddenly add an extra dollar per month.
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and my phone company just tacked on an extra $1/month for 911 service
Those greedy bastards!
911 is a public service. Charging for it is akin to the police billing the victims of crime when they respond to a call.
Personally I think 911 is over-rated, particularly all of the geo-location stuff that was mandated for cell-phones and VOIP in order to enable 911 calls to automatically report locations (which has apprently turned out to be too unreliable for emergency services, but good enough for the FBI and local police departments to track people). But as long as 911 is something society in general
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...paid for by taxes and fees. how else are you going to pay for public services?
Yes, how else are public services paid for? What possible point could you hope to make by assuming total ignorance on my part?
...for example, paid through a $1/month surcharge on cell phone lines?
$12 per handset per year is nearly $4 billion per year just for the cell-network part of the 911 infrastructure... that is ridiculously over-priced. Furthermore, it is a public service, not a service specific to phone owners. 911 works on cell phones without subscriptions, it works on every phone, it is ubiquituious. As long as the service is ubiquitous then payment needs to c
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Excellent non-rebuttal dude. Hand-waving that taxes are wealth transfers doesn't address any of my points because exactly the same argument could be used to rationalize any distribution of taxation, such as taking all of your entire income to pay for 911 services. After all taxes are just taking money from some people to pay for services for other people, no other criteria necessary.
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I'm assuming that there is a typo in here somewhere, since $60 + $7/TV never seems like a bargain compared to $60 + $0/TV.
I am also somewhat skeptical at the suggestion that the "typical" (whether that is mean, median, or mode) cable-connected home has 3-4 cable-connected T
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>>>I am also somewhat skeptical at the suggestion that the "typical" (whether that is mean, median, or mode) cable-connected home has 3-4 cable-connected TVs.
>>>
Maybe I come from a weird family? I had 2 cable-connected TVs in my tiny apartment (until I switched to antennaTV).
My parents have 4 (kitchen, living room, garage, basement) and my brother's family has 5 (living room, kitchen, bedroom, kids bedroom, basement). Is that abnormal? How many do most families have?
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You haven't seen nothing if you played Farmville on Facebook.
People kept bugging me so I decided after a year and half to log in. The ads pop up and you MUST CLICK ON THEM and there is no mimimize or close button. The whole game freezes up and you have to visit Bubbletown or whatever crap, then exit and go back. The Jaded Chinese ad on is the worse as you must setup a game then click cancel and go back and you can't play at all unless you visit every full page ad. It is INSANE.
Now I know why the adults stop
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Your story reminds me of a BBC show..... a sci-fi future where people ride bikes, play games, and are forced to watch ads in their bedrooms (unless they pay to get rid of them). Day after miserable day.
Sorry (Score:2)
They're just ripping off.. (Score:2)
telephore's contextual cellular ad system uses advanced speech recognition technology to monitor and record subscriber conversations. It can then deliver advertising in call to connect your customer with high-quality ads that meet their needs.
For example, if your customer has a medical problem that they discuss with their doctor, our ad system can then later deliver an audio advertising message when they use the phone on a subsequent occasion.
Better still, the other
Another conversation sparked by ads (Score:4, Insightful)
"Looks like an advert for some kind of leisure footwear."
"I can see that, but what IS this infernal thing, I mean, like WTF?"
"It seems the Microsoftian overlords of Skype are looking for yet another way to extract value from the working class."
"That's unfortunate."
"yes, it is. I guess we'll just have to find some alternative to Skype now. Fuck. What a pain in the ass."
"No shit."
"And the damnedest thing is they figured the ads would spark conversation on Skype."
"Right. Like I'm going to go on about some ad for Crocks. "Crocks! For when Flip Flops are a bit too formal!"
"See - you just did."
"Oh, FML."
"I think the next conversation is when can we meet again, F2F?"
"When I'm back in town, next week, darling."
"Cool. So, doesn't Apple have some kind of alternative to Skype on the iPad we can use to avoid - LOOK! There's another! I see it as an ad for boil creme. What do you see?"
"Oil. All I see is oil."
"Yeah - well that'll run out soon enough and put an end to all this garbage."
"Not a moment too soon, love. Not a moment too soon."
"I'll check into the Apple angle, and see what we can do. Gotta go - love you!"
"Love you too."
Change to Google Voice and Video (Score:2)
Where's the encryption? (Score:5, Interesting)
Isn't Skype supposed to be encrypted between the end users? Of course, that claim has always been in a "Trust us, we're trustable!" framing, but if this listens to your text & voice comms in order to select ads, that finally does confirm that there is absolutely no privacy on Skype.
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I don't think it says that. They say the ads are based on geography ("local brand experience") and tailored to the user, probably through some other mechanism, like paying Google/Facebook for profile data. I imagine the geographic information is dependant on using a mobile phone with a GPS.
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No need for GPS. IP address is good enough for this purpose. They need to know in which country you live, like to know which city, but that's about as detailed as need be.
Re:Where's the encryption? (Score:4, Informative)
Well that's the end of Skype. (Score:2)
I'd say this is more or less the death of Skype, since it opens the window for someone to create an open-source alternative which doesn't have this annoying feature at all. Quite what form that will take is up in the air, but really we just need the motivation to put the pieces together in a friendly way.
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There is already a FOSS video/voice chat system, Ekiga, in existence. You can dial "real" phone numbers with a subscription to any number of providers.
Overreaction of the century? (Score:3)
I don't understand why people are claiming the service is going to die because of this, or how dare they, or what have you.
They're silent ads which appear on the conversation window where the participating callers are tiled. Do people seriously do nothing but stare at the conversation window so they can look at that static avatar image of whoever they're talking to? It's not an audio advertisement. It's just a picture that takes up a slot in the conversation frame. It's going to interrupt conversations to have a silent, ignorable show up on the conversation window? Of course their reasoning for doing this is marketing spin but seriously now. You can even opt out of personalized advertisements so it's not trying to target you.
I really just don't see the problem with them doing this. Skype is a free service with premium services attached. If you're using nothing but the free service, you will get rather unobtrusive advertisements, otherwise if you've been paying for the premium services it won't even show up.
Insulting (Score:4, Interesting)
I understand the ads. They suck, but at least you can get rid of them.
What gets me is that according to Skype, these aren't ads, they're "conversation starters" and they hope that we will discuss them with our friends. That's just downright insulting.
Show me the ad if you must. Don't tell me that I should like it and talk about it with others. I'm not your damned advertising agent.
Understandable and Stupid (Score:3)
I bite my tongue when using a free service with ads.
But come now, 'conversation starters'? Just because I'm broke doesn't mean I'm dumb. Just say, "We're putting ads on this shit, deal."
Surprised, anyone? (Score:2)
Anyone here who is the least bit surprised at this move needs to turn in their geek cards immediately.
While Skype's popularity has continued to steadily increase, its quality has unquestionably been in decline since even before Microsoft bought them. Now that they're MS-owned the only real option is to seek out alternatives.
MS == doom (Score:3)
This is the 2nd time I'm saying it, for the 2nd reason: Ever since MS acquired Skype, it's been going downhill. MS has always been a marketing-driven organisation, this just goes to show that the takeover is now complete.
It does give us a glimpse into the mind of the spammer, though. Doesn't "they are conversation starters" sound a lot like the "people are waiting for our newsletter" rationalisation that the other spammers use?
Linux safe from updates (Score:2)
Re:Ad Muncher blocks skype ads. (Score:5, Funny)
It didn't block your comment, though.
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bahahaha
Re:Ad Muncher blocks skype ads. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Ad Muncher blocks skype ads. (Score:5, Funny)
Exactly, that's I love and recommend Linux. It's open source so Linux is trustworthy. It even comes with a 'true' program.
Linux, for all your software needs.
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People are willing to pay money to get rid of ads. That should tell the spammers / marketing people something, shouldn't it? (and no "great, make more ads, then charge people for not showing them is not the right answer)
The right answer is: Go get a useful job.
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You didn't get it. You can't opt out of the ads, you can only opt out of personalized ads.
Well, actually, that's not entirely correct, either. TFA:
These new display ad units will appear within the calling window of users who do not have Skype Credit or subscriptions
So it looks like you can, effectively, make this go away with a one-time payment (a minimum of $10 for Skype credit, IIRC).
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Besides the misplaced idea of needing to put cash into something just for a feature not to work. The credit disappears If you don't use the it. It disappears if you don't spend any of it after 6 months. This idea was implemented before MS bought Skype.
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Honest question: which other service?
I'm using Skype occasionally for video calls. My parents would like to see their grandson, that's why. And my grandson is happy to see his grandparents now and then too - it's a 12 hour flight away so you can imagine we don't go often.
I'd be glad to see an alternative, as we often enough have problems with Skype. Having to deal with ads is going to be beyond annoying very soon. But I have yet to hear about a serious alternative:
Free of charge for PC to PC calls. I don't
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Yahoo? Jabber?
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http://www.oovoo.com/home.aspx [oovoo.com] - 12 way video chatting for free. Disclaimer, I found this on the verge yesterday when they discussed this topic, I haven't used it yet.
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By what the article notes, this only happens for audio calls, specifically 1 on 1 calls, and also specifically on the windows platform.
So while there's no problem with looking for an alternative, it doesn't look like you'll see this "feature" any time soon, since it sounds like 1 on 1 video calls is what you're doing.
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http://maddox.xmission.com/ [xmission.com] has no ads
Also, there are more free-to-play games which do NOT serve ads than you can shake a stick at.