Using Vonage (VOIP)

[tdzankl]

Hi, we are likely relocating to Dubai this summer from North America. We currently have a Vonage phone which is VOIP. We are able to take our Vonage with us which will allow all of our family and friends to dial our North American phone number to reach us overseas so it would remain a local call for them....does anyone know if it is possible to do this from the UAE, as I know they have blocked certain portals for skype in the past, etc...

Does anyone use Vonage or know someone who does? I'd love to be able to continue with it as it would really help our family out!

TIA,

Tracy

[Jynxgirl]

It doesnt work. Its blocked.

[Iron Horse]

From a recent Gulf News article, they wrote how Du is looking to partner up with a company to bring an inexpensive system here. However, I wondered how can they make it inexpensive when it was free before?

gulfnews : Du gears to offer VoIP services

gulfnews : TRA approves local VoIP

[aryanarai]

Does anyone know if there is a service that is not blocked? I am looking for the same thing. However, in my situation my husband will be calling us in dubai and we can't afford to rack up thousands of dollars in telephone bills.

[Fatbrit]

Originally Posted by aryanarai

Does anyone know if there is a service that is not blocked? I am looking for the same thing. However, in my situation my husband will be calling us in dubai and we can't afford to rack up thousands of dollars in telephone bills.

The callcentric.com service is very configurable as it's very much a service for geeks -- you bring your own ATA device. Conversely, Vonage is locked down and you don't have any option to change the ports or protocols used. Callcentric is also considerably cheaper than Vonage BTW.

No idea whether you'll be able to bypass the port blocks in Dubai, but you're much more likely to be able to do it with this type of service than Vonage, who have become almost as bad as the Baby Bells they compete with.

[Fatbrit]

Originally Posted by Fatbrit

The callcentric.com service is very configurable as it's very much a service for geeks -- you bring your own ATA device. Conversely, Vonage is locked down and you don't have any option to change the ports or protocols used. Callcentric is also considerably cheaper than Vonage BTW.

No idea whether you'll be able to bypass the port blocks in Dubai, but you're much more likely to be able to do it with this type of service than Vonage, who have become almost as bad as the Baby Bells they compete with.

On second thoughts and with a Google, they appear to block all the UDP ports. I'd be locking at a router with VPN to connect the ATA.

[fcjb1970]

Well that stinks. I was worried this might be the case. Besides the aspect of the ability for friends and family to be able to make calls as local I need to keep at least one of my numbers active (wanted both). All of my financial accounts have the number I have had for the last 16 years tied to them, and I cannot really change these to an international number.

I may have to keep the Vonage number and forward it to my international number, unless someone else has a better suggestion

[Fatbrit]

Originally Posted by fcjb1970

Well that stinks. I was worried this might be the case. Besides the aspect of the ability for friends and family to be able to make calls as local I need to keep at least one of my numbers active (wanted both). All of my financial accounts have the number I have had for the last 16 years tied to them, and I cannot really change these to an international number.

I may have to keep the Vonage number and forward it to my international number, unless someone else has a better suggestion

Xfer both your North American numbers to a VOIP provider such as callcentric. You have the option (via a browser) of what you want to do with your calls -- ring on a voip ATA or software, redirect to voice mail (accessible via a browser or phone) or forward to another number.

[ccr]

Originally Posted by tdzankl

Does anyone use Vonage or know someone who does? I'd love to be able to continue with it as it would really help our family out!

Hi fellow Texan,

We are moving back to Dubai from Egypt, and had to sell our Vonage hardware because it is blocked. It was a tough daysince we too loved our Vonage.

I assume you / your husband works for an American company, which most likely mean that you have VPN access to get company emails, etc. if so, then simply use Skype.

To get a local number in Houston, you pay $2.99 / month and get a choice of area code and prefix. You could then call (via computer on VPN) local Houston numbers and have them call your local Houston number as well.

The only restriction is your computer must be connected to VPN.

If you want to dedicate a home computer to Skype (running VPN), then you could subscribe for private VPN (i.e. I use StrongVPN dot com) and pay a small monthly fee.

The other good thing about having private VPN is you could use Netflix to stream movies, CBC shows, etc.

We have VPN on our iPads to Skype and watch movies, US shows...

-Signed: spoiled Americans

[Fatbrit]

Originally Posted by ccr

Hi fellow Texan,

We are moving back to Dubai from Egypt, and had to sell our Vonage hardware because it is blocked. It was a tough daysince we too loved our Vonage.

I assume you / your husband works for an American company, which most likely mean that you have VPN access to get company emails, etc. if so, then simply use Skype.

To get a local number in Houston, you pay $2.99 / month and get a choice of area code and prefix. You could then call (via computer on VPN) local Houston numbers and have them call your local Houston number as well.

The only restriction is your computer must be connected to VPN.

If you want to dedicate a home computer to Skype (running VPN), then you could subscribe for private VPN (i.e. I use StrongVPN dot com) and pay a small monthly fee.

The other good thing about having private VPN is you could use Netflix to stream movies, CBC shows, etc.

We have VPN on our iPads to Skype and watch movies, US shows...

-Signed: spoiled Americans

If you run VPN from a router, presumably your ATA will work, too?
Plus if your VPN service is US based, you can have Hulu Netflix et al. as well?