VoIP: Do Irish Operators block it?
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Following on from Pat’s post here about Vodafone and T-Mobile blocking VoIP services in the UK, has anyone here found they cannot make VoIP calls with their mobile broadband options or via their operator branded N95s and so forth? Some people tell me that on Vodafone 3g broadband Skype does not work. Wondering can people list what does not work on Vodafone’s broadband and regular mobile service. I believe that Skype works on o2’s 3g broadband package?
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June 18th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
o2 and Vodafone aren’t the only operators out there you know… Ok, Meteor aren’t an option when it comes to 3G but don’t forget 3. Skype works fine on 3’s mobile broadband package and they also have phones (the “X-Series”) coming at the end of the month which will also have built-in Skype support (as well as Slingbox support and some other nice features).
June 18th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
Damien,
I use voip apps on my Vodafone a/c all the time. One possible diff is that my phone was bought unlocked from Expansys not from Vodafone.
June 18th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
Tom,
Which apps, is Skype one of them?
Damien
June 18th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
Truphone (mostly) and Fring (which includes Skype).
June 18th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
[...] Also, Damien is wondering if Irish mobile operators block VoIP. Well, speaking for my current employers (mobile phone network ‘3′), no. Despite Vodafone apparently not liking Skype, ICQ, Windows Messenger, and more, 3 are bringing out phones (their ‘X-Series’ range) that have Skype and Slingbox capabilities built in - and every phone available from 3 stores now comes with a Windows Live Messenger installer - and it’s free to use. I’m not bothering with the X-Series phones myself, but I AM looking forward to getting my new Sony Ericsson K800i that this boards.ie thread convinced me to go for. [...]
June 18th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
I think a person would have to be nuts to use Skype on a bandwidth-capped phone. It’s not real VoIP. It’s a proprietary software black box which steals additional bandwidth behind your back to route other people’s calls.
Get a SIP client for your phone and use (eg) Blueface instead. €25 per month gets us unlimited landline calls to Ireland, the US and the UK. Your cell phone can have (eg) an 021 number so you can be nice to your callers too. And you won’t suddenly discover that you’re being billed by the MB by Voda because Skype ripped off your bandwidth without telling you.
June 18th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
3 Ireland don’t block VOIP. There is traffic “identification” but thats about it.
And as Niall O K says, 3 are bringing out X-Series coming soon, they are not going to do something silly like block IP traffic.
I agree 100% with Messr. Handelaar - Skype is blackbox VOIP. Dump it and get Gizmo. Works 100% on Windows, Mac, and Nokia S60 phones.
http://www.runningwithbulls.com/blog/2007/05/18/gizmo-released-for-s60-devices/
I would also suggest, like John, looking at Blueface, but also SIPPhone (the makers of Gizmo).
I use Gizmo on my mobile (with WiFi), and on my laptop. Works wonderfully.
August 10th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
I also agree with John Handelaar, we cannot say Voip==Skype.
I have been fighting with Three.ie, the company that provide me with 3G internet (I won’t say broadband) in Ireland, since weeks ago because no one of my 4 Voip phones works when I use the internet. But they work when I am in other network.
I called many many times to the customer support asking for the list of ports that they block and I got no answer, just a list of supported applications (my Linux is not on the list of supported OS, by the way) for the accelerator.
Anyway, I was going to write here quite big that three.ie (3) block Voip (but not skype), but after read to Bernard talking so confident, I decided to open ‘again’ my Voip Phone. Now it works.
Maybe they changed their policy or just stopped blocking my communications. But at least today I won’t have to call with the expensive Skype just because they block my other cheap accounts.
I started using 3G with Three.ie (3) the 14th of July 2007.
Today (10th August) is the first day my Voip phone works on Three.ie network.
Thanks to all of you. :o)
September 12th, 2007 at 11:11 pm
Well Fring did work on Three Ireland but it would seem no longer as a major port blocking exercise has taken place. Nor do SIP based VOIP services such as Truphone or Gizmo work any longer.
While there is a crippled Skype client with X-Series the promise was exciting unfortunately the reality is rather less so. The Three Skype client only works in areas covered by 3G though Skype through Fring got along quite happily with GPRS, it has no text facility and oddly doesn’t support usernames with underscores.
For more see
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055147970
and
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055142078
November 26th, 2007 at 5:31 pm
Actually I can confirm that Eircom do in fact blovk VOIP traffic.
To cut a long story short, a company I worked with changed over to VOIP and had problems where the number kept could not be called and a lot more.
After tracing the packets and threating eircom with disclosure and that “we will go to comreg” , the problem magicially fixed itself.
I do realise that this is slightly off topic but it is relevent.
November 26th, 2007 at 5:39 pm
I used VOIP with Eircom with no issues for the last 2 years - residential account. Don’t know if they discriminate for business.
As for 3 Ireland with X-Series Gold now I am happy to report that both Fring and classic SIP protocols work fine.
July 23rd, 2008 at 7:03 pm
I recently bought the 19.99 euro per month O2 broadband service for my sister in Co. Mayo. I tried it out in Cork and Skype to skype connections seemed to be blocked, but Skype out worked fine.
August 7th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
Slightly off topic but I’m using a Huawei E220 for 3G access on my PC with Vodafone Ireland and can’t seem to set up a temporary FTP server on port 21, port 80 or port 8080.
Does anyone know if Vodafone.ie leaves any ports open for a temporary inbound connection?
I’ve tried port scanning tools and it tells me everything inbound is closed, but I’m finding that (almost) hard to believe.
Sean.