Korea Blocking Service July 1st

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Jun 28, 2006 Posts: 1

How are they going to justify blocking us on a "USFK base" are we not technically on american soil over here. Christ, this is utter crap. Just like SSRT, they give crappy customer service because they are koreans and don't know better. Thats bull, because I am an American solider, pay in american dollars, and live on an american armed forces base! I can see cutting people that live off post but people who live on post should not be affected by this. I know its Korea doing this but still...Vonage needs to step in and fill out the paper work over here..otherwise they going to be feeling it soon..

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Jun 27, 2006 Posts: 2

M_C_John wrote:

dammit packet 8 too. how do you know that. i was just about to order that. looks like im SOL now. calling cards suck and cost way to much f'n money. AAFES loves to screw their people

you make it sound like aafes is to blame for this? blame korea =)

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Jun 27, 2006 Posts: 5

silentace wrote:

M_C_John wrote:

dammit packet 8 too. how do you know that. i was just about to order that. looks like im SOL now. calling cards suck and cost way to much f'n money. AAFES loves to screw their people

you make it sound like aafes is to blame for this? blame korea =)

i was ranting about the fact that AAFES charges too much money for calling cards.

Posts: 1123 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: May 26, 2005 Posts: 1123

"Thats bull, because I am an American solider, pay in american dollars, and live on an american armed forces base! I can see cutting people that live off post but people who live on post should not be affected by this."

Well, unfortunately, you are "an American solider, pay in american dollars, and live on an american armed forces base" BUT you have a Korean Internet Provider that services the UNCLAS niprnet backbone leaving the bases. It's not like the base owns the network after it leaves their demarc. It stinks, but Vonage won't/can't help, they don't officially have service there, and the TOS states that. My advice would be to talk to the Embassy through your chain-of-command, and maybe if someone on the USFK staff found out about it, that could help. Make for a good news article for some military papers, huh? Tell your chain of command that it's a quality of life issue and show them on paper on much money servicemembers save vice using the AFFES calling cards. Maybe, just maybe, Vonage would be interested in providing their service via the Exchange/PX?

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Jun 28, 2006 Posts: 1

[font=Times New Roman] [/font] [B][I] Confused

Really upset at the fact this is going to take place in about 2 days... but if the Korean Gov't is really flipping out about this whole VoIP thing being illegal... what about the bootlegging, counterfit items being made downtown? The blackmarketing that is going on... funny "they" know what all is going on... but they don't want to address it... so sad but true... if that is the case... shoot boycott all the stores downtown that are doing illegal things... grant it they have nice things down there... how would they like it if COACH, NIKE, TIMBERLAND, LV, GUCCI etc...did a "block" on them?

Posts: 1715 · Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 9:53 am Post subject: Re: Blocking...

seoulbaby wrote:

[font=Times New Roman] [/font] [B][I] Confused

Really upset at the fact this is going to take place in about 2 days... but if the Korean Gov't is really flipping out about this whole VoIP thing being illegal... what about the bootlegging, counterfit items being made downtown? The blackmarketing that is going on... funny "they" know what all is going on... but they don't want to address it... so sad but true... if that is the case... shoot boycott all the stores downtown that are doing illegal things... grant it they have nice things down there... how would they like it if COACH, NIKE, TIMBERLAND, LV, GUCCI etc...did a "block" on them?

Chances are that the Korean gov't has a vested interest in the telecom industry in that country, so VoIP is a direct competitor to their probably overpriced product. The Korean economy probably gets a nice boost from all of the black market items, so they're not about to touch those.

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Jun 28, 2006 Posts: 7

M_C_John wrote:

dammit packet 8 too. how do you know that. i was just about to order that. looks like im SOL now. calling cards suck and cost way to much f'n money. AAFES loves to screw their people

AAFES just sells what's available in the area so I wouldn't blame them. There's just nothing in the SOFA agreement that says the local country ISP can't block VOIP or make it illegal.

I was based in Japan a few years ago which fortunately doesn't block VOIP. Just remember that you do have many other options other than calling cards. My family all has Mac computers, so we use iChat to video chat with each other.

If you use Windows machines, you can use Yahoo! Instant Messenger to voice and video chat for free. You can also voice through AIM/MSN Messenger.... I'm not sure if GoogleTalk has voice capability. Your family will need to have microphones connected to their computers

If you are really hard up on people calling with a USA phone number, then try out Skype-In. It run's differently than Vonage, but you don't need a special router for it. The bummer part about Skype-In compared to Vonage is that you need to leave your computer on to accept calls, and you need a microphone connected to the mic jack on your computer. (BTW They do make phones that you can connect to your USB ports that act and work like a phone).

They don't pay much in the military so servicemen and women could save some cash by using VOIP services.

Posts: 493 · Vonage Forum Evangelist Joined: Apr 29, 2005 Posts: 493

Sparky9292 wrote:

I'm not sure if GoogleTalk has voice capability.

It does.

Sparky9292 wrote:

(BTW They do make phones that you can connect to your USB ports that act and work like a phone).

They also have adapter that lets you use your house wiring, at least for Skype...

Posts: 6 · Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2006 11:57 am Post subject:

I've had much better call quality with Skype over Vonage when dealing with calls to ROK. I have some family over there who speak Korean, I don't, and when they'd try to have language lessons w/me, Vonage would always cut off the first bit of the words they'd say. So trying to hear what they were saying was very difficult over Vonage service.

Once we got Skype it was *much* clearer ... and free Very Happy

I think for anyone who's going to lose Vonage service while being in South Korea, Skype is a very good option.

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Jun 27, 2006 Posts: 5

looks like we are still on borrowed time.