Recommend an alternative to Skype

[Barbas]

Skype is too slow and crash-prone for my liking, so I'd like to use an alternative that won't require my current contacts to set up new accounts so I can stay in touch with them. Someone recommend Trillian to me once, but all it did was link to my existing Skype account so there wasn't much point - I didn't have any others for it to helpfully consolidate together. As for Google's alternative, Christ alone knows what they're doing and he doesn't talk to me any more.

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

I don't use any such things myself. Don't have any friends so using it on the computer would be pointless and I've chosen not to have internet on my 4-year old birthday-present smartphone so that too is out.

All that said though, My work-partner swears by Viber. https://www.viber.com/en/

On the bottom of that page it does say "Instantly integrates with your own contact list" which seems to be what you are looking for?