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VoIP Block Frustrates Users In UAE |
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Written by Adam Gosling
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Friday, 15 September 2006 |
VoIP users in the United Arab Emirates have been
fighting a running battle with telco's as restrictive practices are cutting
them off from IP Telecommunications services.
According to this
story, the latest round of restrictions appear to block SIP traffic using
packet filter technology, whereas in the past port blocking had been used. Port
blocking is relatively easy to avoid as it's easy to change ports at the client
end, but packet filtering (except with Skype) is a relatively easy and
permanent block to data transfer.
Skype is a little harder to detect and therefore block in
the network, but there are solutions emerging which would let countries, or
organisations effectively block Skype if they put their mind
to it.
The irony is that the incumbent telco, Etisalat, is actually
a heavy IP Telephony user itself relaying as much as 40% of it international
calls across VoIP gateways according to the source.
It's perhaps easier to understand when taken in context that
is rumoured to be working on its own consumer VoIP service.
Etisalat which is also the major broadband provider initially
blocked access to the Skype website which meant users could download or upgrade
versions of the client, nor could not buy credit.
With many Skype softphones already in place and the
application being small enough to easily email most were getting around this inconvenience,
or not upgrading their client (a potential security threat).
But the blockade turned into a business opportunity for one enterprising
service called HeyU. To help users get copies of Skype, HeyU promised to send
them an unblocked link to download the client app from a secure proxy site
after paying the company using PayPal.
It's not the first time Skype has been blocked in the region,
says this
story, which quotes one source saying that consumer pressure had overturned
a previous Skype block in Saudi Arabia: "Two or three years ago Saudi Telecom
also blocked Skype, which led to mass complaints from users. After a while, the
telco gave up and unlocked it."
Last month the public utility commission in Belize ruled
that its monopoly telco would be allowed to block VoIP, but that it had to "notify
the customer of the existence or imposition of this service limitation so that
the customer can exercise choice in service providers," and that the
"service providers who offer restricted services should also offer an
alternative service that does not include restrictions as an option to
customers."
A spokesperson for Etisalat in the UAE points out that it
has every right to block the passage of Skype downloads or VoIP traffic as the
provision of telecommunications services is restricted there and providing such
a service is illegal for all but the two licensed carriers.
Skype actually ran into a similar situation in South Korea
where it set up shop without
first becoming a registered provider. However, it was let off fairly
lightly there.
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