Can Vonage et al. be used FROM foreign countries?

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.dcom.voice-over-ip (More info?)

I was told something that I find hard to believe:
Supposedly Vonage and the other VoIP telcos perform a traceroute and if
they determine that the SIP phone's IP address is outside the US (and
that's VERY hard to determine), then the service is not provided.

Any truth to that?

-Ramon

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.dcom.voice-over-ip (More info?)

Ramon F Herrera wrote:
> I was told something that I find hard to believe:
> Supposedly Vonage and the other VoIP telcos perform a traceroute and if
> they determine that the SIP phone's IP address is outside the US (and
> that's VERY hard to determine), then the service is not provided.
>
> Any truth to that?

Determining the geografic location of an IP address is not that hard,
unless special precautions (VPN, proxying etc.) are taken: there are
several methods providing reasonable guesses. For example,
http://www.hostip.info/api/rough.html?ip=24.128.127.111 locates you at
Somerville, MA, whereas http://www.bbox.ch/default.asp?m=15 traces you
at Mt Laurel, NJ (which is the place of your ISP, Comcast Cable
Communications LLC).

The question is: why should Vonage decline to serve a new customer,
provided that the bills get paid? In no case would they have to bear a
bigger cost for non-US customers, given the way the Internet works.

Enzo

 

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Archived from groups: comp.dcom.voice-over-ip (More info?)

On 3 Jul 2005 16:14:05 -0700, "Enzo Michelangeli"
<nospam@em.no-ip.com> wrote:

>The question is: why should Vonage decline to serve a new customer,
>provided that the bills get paid?

taxation and regulatory issues perhaps. If for example they were
required to provide a 911 service with some sort of location data, or
if a jurisdiction banned VoIP or applied a tax or USO fee - I could
see why they might not want the hassle of subscribers in Nepal or
wherever.

Phil
--
spamcop.net address commissioned 18/06/04
Come on down !

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.dcom.voice-over-ip (More info?)

Phil Thompson wrote:
> On 3 Jul 2005 16:14:05 -0700, "Enzo Michelangeli"
> <nospam@em.no-ip.com> wrote:
>
> >The question is: why should Vonage decline to serve a new customer,
> >provided that the bills get paid?
>
> taxation and regulatory issues perhaps. If for example they were
> required to provide a 911 service with some sort of location data, or
> if a jurisdiction banned VoIP or applied a tax or USO fee - I could
> see why they might not want the hassle of subscribers in Nepal or
> wherever.

This is true, but I seriously doubt that US regulations could apply to
subscribers outside the US territory. This both if we accept a "benign"
view of regulation (to protect own citizens from abuse -- hardly
applicable to citizens in other jurisdictions) and a "realistic" one in
the spirit of the Nobel laureate Robert Lucas (who once said he'd never
seen a regulator who actually gives a damn about consumers). I
personally suspect that mandatory 911 services etc. are just expedients
to protect the incumbents (conventional telcos), so why should a US
regulator bother and do anything to prevent a US company from competing
with a foreign telco?

Enzo

P.S. This case of less-than-honest motives is quite enlightening:
http://www.teletruth.org/USF.html

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.dcom.voice-over-ip (More info?)

Ramon F Herrera <ramon@conexus.net> wrote:
> I was told something that I find hard to believe:
> Supposedly Vonage and the other VoIP telcos perform a traceroute and if
> they determine that the SIP phone's IP address is outside the US (and
> that's VERY hard to determine), then the service is not provided.
>
> Any truth to that?

No, of course not.

1) A traceroute? They'd look at the AS number.

2) They specifically say in their support pages that you can take it with
you when you travel overseas.

3) I've done it.

miguel
--
Hit The Road! Photos from 36 countries on 5 continents: http://travel.u.nu
Latest photos: Queens Day in Amsterdam; the Grand Canyon; Amman, Jordan

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.dcom.voice-over-ip (More info?)

On 4 Jul 2005 18:55:57 -0700, "Enzo Michelangeli"
<nospam@em.no-ip.com> wrote:

>so why should a US
>regulator bother and do anything to prevent a US company from competing
>with a foreign telco?

no reason, however requiring them to produce 911 location data for all
theri subscribers could be an issue if, for example, a European
subscriber declined to provide it.

Also Vonage charge differently in different markets, so they don't
want to compete with themselves for example in the UK.

Phil
--
spamcop.net address commissioned 18/06/04
Come on down !