Codetel shutting down VOIP

Chip

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Jul 25, 2007
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Santiago
Apparently Codetel has shut down VOIP use in selected areas of Santiago for some time now. I assume this is only inevitable once the cretins over there could figure out how to strangle the market any more than they have already done.

Does anybody else know of this happening in other parts of the country?

Also, what other options are there to have a VOIP phone if/when Codetel does this nationwide?
 

jinty05

Bronze
Feb 11, 2005
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Voip Use

I am located in Santiago and my Irish Voip service is working fine. I am located near the Homs hospital.

Just advising you that it's working here.

John
 

Chip

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Jul 25, 2007
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Santiago
I am located in Santiago and my Irish Voip service is working fine. I am located near the Homs hospital.

Just advising you that it's working here.

John

Thanks. I have a friend who has a business in La Trinitaria area and supposedly they shut down the VOIP use some time back.
 

Adrian Bye

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Jul 7, 2002
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this sounds odd and it hasn't affected me.

if they really do start blocking VOIP, there should be ways to encrypt it. but i suspect your friend is incorrect.
 

Chip

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Jul 25, 2007
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Santiago
this sounds odd and it hasn't affected me.

if they really do start blocking VOIP, there should be ways to encrypt it. but i suspect your friend is incorrect.

I would be happy if my friend was incorrect, but he is a very smart and successful businessman here in Santiago so I doubt it. Apparently, the Vonage phone they had only got a busy signal when they used it and they called Codetel and they were told they had eliminated VOIP service.

At any rate, for the sake of this thread I would like to assume that Codetel has figured out a way to do this and that they will implement it nationwide. What alternatives will we have? You talk about encryption, is that something I can do?
 

Chip

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Jul 25, 2007
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Santiago
It has not happened on the North Coast for MagicJack on Codetel. I also called someone on their Vonage number I believe (also on the North Coast) and that worked from my MagicJack.

To reiterate, I said in my orignal post that Codetel had shut down selected areas. I still have it.

The problem is what to do when they decide to shut it all down. I would like to have a solution before then as this will literally put me out of business.
 

MrMike

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Mar 2, 2003
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I would like to know in what area of Santiago its down so I can start working on a workaround if its true.

I suspect that there may be a misunderstanding because I have been told by Codetel that they do not "support" VOIP. - not that you couldn't use it, you're just on your own trying to figure out how to get it working and they wont respond to complaints about it not working properly.

To make it a little more difficult, I can confirm that at least on some accounts they have disabled the ability to ping or traceroute or in any way troubleshoot latency issues that might affect VOIP.
 

Adrian Bye

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Jul 7, 2002
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chip, since you've helped me out, here's a solution for you:

WiTopia: Providers of personal VPN services for online privacy, data security, and unblocking Facebook, Twitter, and Skype where censored.

you encrypt your entire internet to the US for $100/yr and put vonage inside that. codetel will not be able to detect it. there will always be VPNs that codetel cannot detect.

codetel also has a calling plan for RD$100/month which gets pretty cheap calls to the USA, maybe $0.03/min or something. you could have a USA voicemail and just call people back.

but i doubt this block is happening and i wouldn't worry about it.
 
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Chip

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Jul 25, 2007
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Santiago
I would like to know in what area of Santiago its down so I can start working on a workaround if its true.

I suspect that there may be a misunderstanding because I have been told by Codetel that they do not "support" VOIP. - not that you couldn't use it, you're just on your own trying to figure out how to get it working and they wont respond to complaints about it not working properly.

To make it a little more difficult, I can confirm that at least on some accounts they have disabled the ability to ping or traceroute or in any way troubleshoot latency issues that might affect VOIP.

La Trinitaria is the area I believe. Right near the Edenorte office.
 

Chip

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Jul 25, 2007
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Santiago
chip, since you've helped me out, here's a solution for you:

WiTopia: Providers of personal VPN services for online privacy, data security, and unblocking Facebook, Twitter, and Skype where censored.

you encrypt your entire internet to the US for $100/yr and put vonage inside that. codetel will not be able to detect it. there will always be VPNs that codetel cannot detect.

codetel also has a calling plan for RD$100/month which gets pretty cheap calls to the USA, maybe $0.03/min or something. you could have a USA voicemail and just call people back.

but i doubt this block is happening and i wouldn't worry about it.

Adrian thanks for the info! I was really starting to sweat it.

Having an 809 area code won't work for me as I recieve a lot of calls from engineers, surveyors, clients and government workers when I have jobs.

I do like the other option for a $100. That could be a real life saver. Thanks a million!!!! First beer is on me when you're in Santiago!
 

jinty05

Bronze
Feb 11, 2005
925
38
48
Voip

I neglected to mention that my alternative voip service on my orange service is also working fine.

I have always known it is not supported but who needs support.

John
 

Bred

Bronze
Aug 13, 2006
851
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Sosua
My 4 VoIP lines are working fine. Different providers. And different equipment too - Cisco-ATA-186, Linksys SPA921 and SPA2102. Hope it is a false alert.
 

Chip

Platinum
Jul 25, 2007
16,772
429
0
Santiago
My 4 VoIP lines are working fine. Different providers. And different equipment too - Cisco-ATA-186, Linksys SPA921 and SPA2102. Hope it is a false alert.

What providers are you using? I'm currently paying like RD1800 a month for 768 down and 512 up. I'm just trying to find something a little more economical.
 

Bred

Bronze
Aug 13, 2006
851
49
48
Sosua
I mean - VoIP providers. Not internet providers. I am with Codetel paying around RD$ 4000 a month with all taxes for 1.5 MB/s and 768 kB/s.
 

mike l

Silver
Sep 4, 2007
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I have Codotel in sosua and use vonage.

Does Codotel actually plan on blocking vonage users that work from home?

Delancer has cable internet so I would switch to that if i had to
 

Bred

Bronze
Aug 13, 2006
851
49
48
Sosua
Tried De Lancer with pure VoIP. Stay away! Crap! Blocking some ports used for VoIP and signaling. Skype works OK though.
 
Feb 7, 2007
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On Codetel, just right now, i tried 3 different VOIP providers - Vonage, Callcentric (both USA) and T-Com from Europe. All work OK and I was able to get connection.