UAE | General
Residents speak about VoIP
The ban has definitely affected me especially as it was so cheap and I have so many friends on Skype, who I now cannot reach.
- Residents speak about VoIP
- Published: 00:00 October 8, 2006
“I mostly used VoIP for messaging and calling my friends because it is so cheap and easy to make international calls. The ban has definitely affected me especially as it was so cheap and I have so many friends on Skype, who I now cannot reach.
"It is just about politics and money, because even though Etisalat has a monopoly, they still don't want people to speak for free. It has also affected me in terms of my friends who are all over the world.
"Really, VoIP services have created an open world, so the ban is very disappointing, especially as there is no choice in operators here and no competition, so prices will remain high.''
Alexander Mandarovski, 29,
Macedonia
“It is terribly inconvenient and very annoying that we cannot access Skype and other services, because there just seems to be no real reason for it.
"It doesn't really make sense, and is especially frustrating as I used to use it everyday to speak to people. Now I don't make as many international calls, because the alternative is just far too expensive.''
Fiona Whittman, 28,
Australia
“The issue is that the telecom provider wants as much money as possible and to secure their monopoly. But, this shouldn't be an issue because people are still paying their internet bills to the company and just logging onto a site and accessing an online service.
"It should be no different to logging onto hotmail or yahoo and checking your mail.''
Jamil Hassan, 25,
UK
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