I have college wifi when I use Skype it gets connected and after some time gets disconnected. This happen repeatedly.

I want to know Can I use Tor to avoid this problem ? I am not sure but may be Tor fix the disconnection problem.

  • A VPN would be much better for this use as Tor connection can be unreliable and slow, but I'm not sure a VPN would help. Also your traffic would still have to go through the college Wifi, so if it is unreliable your out of luck. – Cammy_the_block Sep 20 '14 at 14:39

You might get Skype working on your machine. However the usage of Skype with Tor is highly discouraged. I quote from Tor's wiki:

Skype is closed source and users have no control over the encryption keys used. Skype can therefore decrypt and monitor communications arbitrarily. It is unwise to communicate in an unsafe manner over Tor. Skype also collects a large amount of personal data and reports back to a central server.

Furthermore it is often reported that Skype blocks Tor exit relays. So you might encounter the same problems you already have.

  • 1
    Anonymity is not the concern here. OP is already using Skype and wants to use Tor to overcome network issues. Your second point about Skype blocking Tor is valid of course. – Jobiwan Sep 26 '14 at 15:40

You can use Skype with Tor, but your connection quality might suffer because of the low connection speed. It may make your problem worse.


The college network is probably not intentionally breaking Skype. More likely it is just generally unreliable. If your Skype issues are caused by confused routers, dodgy access points and resetting NAT session tables, then Tor is not going to help with that.

  • But..., read "No Place To Hide", by Glenn Greenwald first. IMO, using TOR with Skype is kind of like taking vitamins, while smoking 3 packs of cigarettes a day. – user Sep 25 '14 at 15:18
  • My reference is to the book, "No Place To Hide", written by the former Guardian reporter Glenn Greenwald that details Greenwald's conversations and dealings with Edward Snowden, formally a contractor for the USA's NSA. In that book, Greenwald describes how documents leaked by Snowden, allegedly, show how Microsoft cooperated, allegedly, with the NSA to provide NSA's PRISM data collection product with access to Skype user's data/metadata/content/conversations. So, my opinion is that if those allegations are true, then the benefits of using TOR (either for anonymity or for confidentia – user3721 Sep 26 '14 at 17:58

Install tails OS and add skype to your programs. Have not done this myself but it sounds like it should work.


have a look at this paper (A Tor-Based Anonymous Communication Approach to Secure Smart Home Appliances) in the section "Testing with Voice-over-Internet Protocol Applications", there is an experiment with Skype over Tor. What I figured out from their results is that Skype can work via Tor, but not smoothly for the time being due to the Time-to-Live of UDP.


In my experience, using an application like Skype over Tor would defeat the purpose of Tor and perhaps even compromise the security and anonymity of the Tor relays due to the nature of the Skype network as well as the tremendous amount of meta-data collected by Skype. With this information, a malicious attacker or state sponsored spying and wiretapping efforts could uncover enough of the Tor network to render it's overall purpose useless. In short, please do not use Skype or other social networking/communication apps over Tor as you may compromise the security of everyone who depends on Tor in the process.

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