Skype has announced it has increased the group calling limit to 50 people. While that might sound extreme, it does mean that larger teams or classes can chat. 

Of course, there are plenty of other calling options available these days, from WhatsApp to FaceTime to Messenger.

But even though its unique selling points are dwindling, Skype is still reliable and retains the benefit of total cross-platform appeal which Microsoft has maintained ever since it bought the service back in 2011.  

We'd imagine that such a large group will present a few problems, such as managing who is talking at any one time, so we'd have thought it would be best used in a situation where a chairperson - such as a teacher or a manager - is going to be the dominant talker to remove confusion. 

Microsoft has decided to slightly change how these calls alert you, too. Calls involving over 25 people won't ring your PC or phone - instead, you'll be sent a notification. We're guessing this is because Microsoft expects larger group calls to be opt-in events, but it might be handy to be able to choose specific people or groups which always ring your phone. 

Those instigating large calls can, however, choose to still ring particular participants - presumably, you'd do that if you needed some other people on the call who were going to speak - perhaps where several heads of department are going to talk to workers or where there were several tutors on the call.