• Alexis on UAE still blocking VoIP and Skype.com

  I suggest to the problem existing regarding to the voip problem.
  If you want to use skype try to use httptunnel. Or proxy server. or maybe port forwarding from other country. so that you can access any site that has been block by your ISP.

  if this information is helpful pls email me if workable or the status of your testing. by the way im from philippines. alexisgacia@yahoo.com

• solution provider on UAE still blocking VoIP and Skype.com

  Hi Everyone

  I have a solution which will allow you all to access skype.. just drop in a line to me and then we will get going... email id guyindubai@gmail.com

  If you want to access all the blocked sites in UAE.. contact me... i will provide a one time solution (no subscription) which will help you forever. I will also provide you with free tips on how to cut down your telephone bills over through internet.

  
  If required can visit your home at convinient hours to fix this up for you.

• Colman Fox on UAE still blocking VoIP and Skype.com

  I am in Bur Dubai and I am using Mobiboo successfully with their Mobiboo Dashboard ssoftware. It occassionaly reboots itself by generally excellent and I can call back to Australia for a couple of pence - and IM the kidz as well. I recommend it 5 stars *****

• axel on UAE still blocking VoIP and Skype.com

  Hi folks,

  I think that blocking internet is nonsense. People should be provided with the information they want, without any kind of censorship. However blocking Skype makes sense for Etisalat, because it increases their revenues. Though, I really doubt that this blocking situation is meant to last. Etisalat is too expensive and the quality for everseas calls is poor compared to VoIP solutions like Skype.

  I'm in DMC, I still use skype on a regular basis and quality is much better than with landline. That's why I have to keep using it, simply because I cannot afford crap on the line with my corporate customers in America. Skype is simply the best. Last but not least, calling with Skype is free of charge. I would advise people in the UAE to keep using Skype, at least as long as Etisalat has not come with a decent alternative.

  (For the ones who want to keep calling for free with better quality, you just have to change a few settings in Skype and use a free proxy. Many people can help you with that in the UAE. For instance you can ask the french guy Ivan (email=ivandunord@free.fr), he will provide you kindly with that information)

  I don't know why so many people complain about Etisalat. UAE is a competitive environment and all that's why so many gifted europeans and american came here to do business. Those arabs have mad the best city ever. Stop complaining and use simply the solution that suits you best.

• Graham Turner on UAE still blocking VoIP and Skype.com

  We have now tested our new Mobiboo soft client and calls work successfully from Dubai, Doha and Bahrain. If anyone would like to try a BETA version, please email me (gturner@mobiboo.com)
  

• Graham Turner on UAE still blocking VoIP and Skype.com

  Anjali,

  After a recent trip to Dubai, we have received a huge number of enquiries from citizens in Dubai who wish to use VoIP.

  Would you (or anyone else reading this) be prepared to test the operation of our service in Dubai?

  The test would be to download a free Mobiboo account from www.mobiboo.com , install one of our soft phones on your computer (also available from www.mobiboo.com) and make a test phone call to 199.

  You can have a look at our website to see who we are www.mobiboo.com

  If you want to call me you can, on +44 7911 246600

  Thanks

• Anjali on UAE still blocking VoIP and Skype.com

  If anyone knows any free calling software that will work in Dubai, i'd be really grateful for the info. My boyfriend lives in Dubai and i think his phone bills are going to be a cause for our break up.

• Khalil Jibran on UAE still blocking VoIP and Skype.com

  I need more information about personal Internet Via Satellite service if possible and I am using Skype software new Version 2.0 its working well but i m not able to buy Skypeout so can u tell me how can u buy skypeout account

• tallal on UAE still blocking VoIP and Skype.com

  RAF, those guys from Etisalat (UAE telecom) they have some of the best engineers, equipments and contracts with many internetional companies that supplies them with the best technologies. believe me i was surprised too when i figure out that they can stop the SIP traffic which goes just like http. i have tried that myself,, no VOIP call goes more that 20sec. it just get disconnected, very simple and clear.
  i am not sure if skype still working or not yet few monthes ago the skype website wasen't reachable just like now, but skype itself use to work. now i have no skype so i can not tell if it still works or not, but when i googel it out i found that Etisalat has dealed with a Britsh company to stop skype from all Etisalat net work.
  now how is that gona work i am not sure, yet the question will be,, in skype Zones, you will find 3 skype POPs, http://skypezones.boingo.com/search.html?pgt=results&cnty=AE
  i called those guys from Grand Continental Flamingo Hotel who host skype zone in Dubai,, and they told me skype is working just fine, and even skype website is working,!!! when i asked the (Abdulrahman Zafer who seemed to be a Pakistani native, and he presented himself as WiFi network engineer), when i asked him if they use Etisalat as ISP he gives no comments and he added that this service will be provided only if you are living on the hotel or you had a reservation along with skype zone subscribtion.
  So it seems to me that they are not useing Etisalat network.
  when i asked some friends about that they said they are not quite sure what ISP can be used since the Dubai Telecom from DIC(Dubai Internet City) does not allow skype nor any SIP based communications, still i have heard some not sure information about a company based in Dubai Media City(DMC) that provides VPN via germany (Dialup) but also they said it is very expinsive.!!!
  Any way the people here are really reach, and mostly they don't care about VOIP. they are not welling to have a risk with law as fare as it is illigal to use VOIP.
  I have a good friend from INDIA he works as network engineer in a big company and he told me that he have set a satellite Internet connection for his company and those they can use VOIP now, so he resalles calls via VOIP to Indian's n Dubai.
  If you need me to ask about any thing or to get you any information about VOIP, i'll be glad.

• RAF on UAE still blocking VoIP and Skype.com

  How is the Internet service monitored by etisalat. All traffic is moved in data format. It must be their guesswork that makes the final judgement?

• Vijay on UAE still blocking VoIP and Skype.com

  It has always been that way. I was born and grew up in UAE and have come to accept it as the fact of life there. For the most part, people there are rich to the point that they don't care about the prices and any economic benefits that VoIP might bring to them. YOu have to remember that this is a society where 6 year olds carried cellular phones to school back in the mid 90s.

  I guess being the only telecommunications operator in the country and being government owned, it gives them control over the rate at which newer technologies get deployed. That could be a good and a bad thing. I am sure they are just waiting for the technology could mature, so that by then they'll be prepared to make the shift themselves and align their business plans accordingly.

• continued in the Skype Journal Comment River: 200 fresh comments

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