Vonage not active in Dubai, U.A.E. Probable ISP block.

Posts: 17 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Aug 15, 2006 Posts: 17

with the amount of money they charge for the internet, they better make it work by tonight Very Happy

Posts: 86 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Aug 14, 2006 Posts: 86

how much is everyone here paying?

i'm paying 150 for 512 i believe.. considering upgrading to 1mb but not sure its worth it.. since i get the 512 for free, and i would have to pay the difference for 1mb

Posts: 17 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Aug 15, 2006 Posts: 17

i pay 189 Dirhams for 512Kbps.

how come you get 512 free Razz

Posts: 29 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Aug 14, 2006 Posts: 29

bobdxb wrote:

with the amount of money they charge for the internet, they better make it work by tonight Very Happy

I hope so - I just have a bad feeling they have come under pressure from Etisalat given the number of properties and are just not admitting it.

All we can do it keep pestering them I guess

Posts: 86 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Aug 14, 2006 Posts: 86

bobdxb wrote:

i pay 189 Dirhams for 512Kbps.

how come you get 512 free Razz

company apartment.. which includes 512k internet Smile

srmillar wrote:

I hope so - I just have a bad feeling they have come under pressure from Etisalat given the number of properties and are just not admitting it.

All we can do it keep pestering them I guess

this is my fear as well.. i keep hitting my speakerphone button every 20 minutes hoping to win the first prize Wink

Posts: 24 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Aug 15, 2006 Posts: 24

i keep on doing a reboot of Vonage by taking the power out and trying again after two minutes

I dont want to do it too often in case I damage the device

still no joy Confused

Posts: 86 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Aug 14, 2006 Posts: 86

9pm and no dice.. about to hit the sack.. lets hope for some luck tomorrow..

i hope someone made a complaint tonight Wink

Posts: 86 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Aug 14, 2006 Posts: 86

ok.. well i decided to call dic.. the tech told me that unfortunately this was blocked by etisalat.. and management has escalated the situation and requested that it be unblocked.

dic was never informed that it would be blocked and they are waiting for an answer as to why it was blocked in the first place.

situation seems a bit grim.. lets hope those slobs at etisalat decide to unblock for our areas. i know they want to offer their own Voip service soon.. and i can say i will never pay for any more of their services.

hope i don't have to use skype.. as i love Vonage, but i'd rather do that than give money to etisalat.

Posts: 20 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Aug 14, 2006 Posts: 20

jumanji: you've definetly discovered something interesting information there. although what makes me wonder is why DIC has any dependance on etisalat? After the federal govt. amended their telecom rules some years ago, EMIX (emirates internet exchange) was set up and i would imagine that is independant of both DIC and Etisalat. But then again, this is a small town we live in with a small population and one cheif who runs the entire show so i wouldn't be surprised if your information is 100% correct.

Anywho, i called DIC support to figure out when my public IP would be enabled, and unlike before i also questioned him very very briefly "you must be getting a lot of calls lately about certain UDP ports being blocked, any news?" i didn't explain anything further but he knew what i was talking about and that indicates all of us calling has definetly got their attention. He told me "sorry sir, no timeline has been given yet but it may take a few days"

so....still more waiting...

Posts: 24 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Aug 15, 2006 Posts: 24

thanks Jumanji for the update

This looks very grim and disappointing. One of my reasons for choosing to live in new Dubai was because of unrestricted access - this is indeed very disappointing

Next thing no doubt, skype will be blocked and other content sites through their proxy server

This also makes a mockery of the free zone of which DIC is part of

Lets hope that they can see sense, that an economy prospers when competition is introduced - encouraging innovation not monopoly behaviour