Egypt Says No More Mobile Skype Calls
from the can't-route-around dept
Egypt has apparently decided that it doesn't like the idea of people making mobile phone calls that it can't track and/or that the state-owned telco can't make money off of. So it's
banning all mobile VoIP calls. Apparently "fixed" VoIP calls are okay, which gets a bit confusing:
"The ban is on Skype on mobile internet, not on fixed, and this is due to the fact it is against the law since it bypasses the legal gateway," said Amr Badawy, the executive president of the National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (NTRA).
Under Egyptian law, international calls must pass through a network controlled by majority state-owned Telecom Egypt, which this week reported disappointing earnings.
But what is the difference between the "mobile internet" and the "fixed internet" in real terms? If I use a laptop on a 3G connection... is that fixed or mobile? If I use a mobile phone on a WiFi connection connected to a DSL line, is that fixed or mobile? This just seems like a way to try to boost profits for the state owned telco with arbitrary rules.
Filed Under: egypt, voip
Companies: skype
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This just in...
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Re: This just in...
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interesting
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mobile monitoring
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Sounds unenforceable
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Not new
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No it's pretty easy to understand
If the Internet is coming fom a fixed landline, even if it goes through wifi router- skype ok. (paying dsl company for Internet)
It's pretty straight foward, even if the reasoning behind it is not.
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Yeah ... but...
Okay, how about this?
What if I use my 3G connection via a VPN Tunnel to my office which then goes out via a hard line?
What if I'm connected to a land line but I VPN over to a router that uses 3G ultimately for Internet/VoIP traffic?
Freedom
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Re: Yeah ... but...
3g to vpn to hardline- ok, as the data would appear as regular traffic, not VOIP to the ISP.
Is the 3g router inside the country or outside? Inside Egypt probably not ok, outside, most likely ok, because Egyptian mobile companies really have no say over your use of other country's 3g network.
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Re: Yeah ... but...
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Just seems in future
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Ten Dollars A Minute
I can see why the official state owned Egyptians would be upset by it.
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Egypt is a police state.
Apparently they don't have the tech to monitor Voip over 3g, sucks to be them.
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and of course ....
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Freedom!
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vpn rules
http://strongvpn.com/aff/scripts/click.php?a_aid=skype&a_bid=ca14b048&chan=skype
Easy installation and nice support.
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