Skype blocked in UAE. Look for alternatives
Thousands of people can no longer make cheap calls to family and friends abroad after UAE telecom Du banned internet phone service Skype, the latest in a string of recent internet restrictions rolled out by the operator.
Residents living in Dubai's free zones and freehold developments owned by Emaar Properties and Nakheel first noticed disruption to their Skype service last week, complaining that although they could access the Skype website they could not make phone calls over the internet.
In a statement emailed to ArabianBusiness.com, Farid Faraidooni, Du commercial executive vice president, confirmed a partial ban was now in place.
“Du complies with all the guidelines of the Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRA) with regard to content filtering. Accordingly, as per the TRA's instructions, only PC to phone and phone to PC communications are blocked - voice over internet protocol (VoIP),” Faraidooni said.
Du's actions appear to contradict comments made by CEO Osman Sultan in an interview with ArabianBusiness.com in April, in which he said subscribers would not lose access to Skype under new internet restrictions.
Du in April joined rival telecom Etisalat and began filtering internet content through the UAE proxy server. Previously Du subscribers had unfettered access to the web.
The proxy server blocks websites that contain content pertaining to pornography, alcohol, gambling, hatred, child abuse or terrorism, according to the TRA.
At the time Sultan said only websites with "offensive" content would be blocked under the new filtering policy.
The TRA is currently finalising new regulations covering internet access in the UAE, with the 'Internet Penetration Policy' expected to be published before the end of this year.
JB, Thanks a lot, will try that.
One can have a look at tools like webex, gomeetnow, gotomeeting, R-HUB web video conferencing servers etc. They work well.
thanks for ur advertising sandy...
Black Byte Networks ( http://www.blackbytenetworks.com ) is a
voip / skype / websites unblocking service that has been
working perfectly for well over a year worldwide.
There is a 7 day free trial period after which a year's
subscription costs $49.99/-. If the website is blocked, please
mail [email protected] for the executable.
Sandy
VOIP is blocked in Qatar too..
btw u can use ooVoo as an alternative to skype.. its gud.. has video conferencin too..
Just in case skype goes belly up in doha.
http://www.callwave.com/landing/internetAnsweringMachine_L1.asp
samsam, i dont need your help.My skype workin just fine.
===================================== http://www.qatarliving.com/node/58409
my meawing has been noticed...lol...shokran...
has been blocked for years in the UAE.
I'm not surprised that Du have blocked access as Du is, like Etisalat, partly government owned. In fact I am fairly sure that Etisalat have representation on the board. Certainly Mubadala (part of ADIA and top of the money chain in the UAE)are represented on the Du board.
...didn't receive phoooone caaaaals since looooong time agooooo... meaaawwww...
if u need help just say it
so i don't care. Don't be afraid QL's members i'll help u if thats happened
"rules made to be broken"
for limited period try jaxtre
Live and let live...
the people who already have the application still can use it, but then you can not open the website to top up the credit. We ended up giving our credit card number to our relatives and ask them to top up from the UK.
novita i never knew that,
((change the world))
it was blocked in Qatar before, i heard that some embassy making petition to Qtel and they opened it up again.
very soon in qatar :)