Skype links in Internet Explorer redirects page

Question

hello.

i'm made a call button using Skype's links in a web page.

 <a href="skype:echo123?call"> Call echo123 </a> 

i tried it in Firefox and IE and the link is working ok - i can make a call using Skype. but the thing is, IE redirects the page to skype:echo123?call which results to a 404 error.

i tried adding onclick = "return false" but this stopped the call link from working.

i don't want to redirect or reload the page every time a call is made - just like how it is in Firefox, the page stays put.

is there a way to get around this?

thanks!