VoIP calling as a primary reason, and so what do you do if you're a state-run commercial enterprise trying to make a profit? Why, you make the competition illegal of course. Egypt has specifically banned mobile international calls made through VoIP, immediately affecting the country's three mobile carriers (Vodafone, Mobinil, and Etisalat). However, according to the AFP the law states that "all international calls must pass through state-owned Egypt Telecom," meaning at-home Skypers would also be out of luck. For its part Skype believes that " it should be up to consumers, not regulatory authorities, to choose the winners and losers in the communications space." We're guessing its customers would agree, but we're still waiting for their response -- damn lag.
That's not entirely true. in Egypt VoIP (Skype) has been turned off 3G networks. But one can still use it over Wifi. Which was the case everywhere I believe until a few weeks ago.
@dalsakr My mother has Fring on her S60 phone, called me over 3G like 2 weeks ago.
WiFi Skype works normally, nothing affected.
And by the way, since unlimited 3G data plans are extremely rare, 3G Skyping costs a fortune ($1/ 5MB).... since all phones have WiFi, nobody uses 3G for Skypeing in Egypt.
@DTJ Actually... The Bedouin are constantly smuggling Egyptians into Eilat. Read the news.
I myself am an Arab Israeli citizen. Life isn't bad. If you don't want to kill anyone you can enjoy life very well in Israel. The peace solution is very simple and Tony Blair summed it up very nicely, "the solution is simple stop firing rockets."
Typical.... gosh when will they understand that unless they evolve their services, VIOP is gonna keeping on coming at them (skype is not the only service out there!)
Same thing applies for the UAE... Friggin idiots...
This is actually firly common. Until Skype/VoIP appeared, PTTs and Telcos virtually had a license to print money. Skype and whatnot pretty much wiped this out overnight. I feel sorry for the PTTs but not that sorry. They could have implemented VoIP way before Skype got in the act and with few exceptions, they did not do so. The way forward here is to embrace the new technology and to offer competitive rates on internet connections and to actually help Skype calls because the PTT will still make some money from incoming calls and reciprocal arrangements with other PTTs worldwide.
I wonder what is happening with multinational companies in Egypt who have VoIP connected to their company phone switches? I bet that is working just fine.
@r3loaded lol Yes, I live in Manchester and the look on their faces was priceless when over 70% of people in Manchester said "No" to congestion charges!
Sorry to say, that is why the UK is in decline. Socialism, poor planning and excessive immigration. I say this as a Black man who isn't really "american" but the UK will fade away. It's a mere police state/welfare state and has lost it's power. Sorry to say.
In effect, this is no different than if books or fax machines, or phones themselves were banned in some country. Egypt, for all its wonderful qualities, both as the home of an ancient culture and of a modern country is still a repressive place.
I am a bit ignorant about this, but how does skype work? I have always heard of it but never used it. Also, I have a samsung impression for at&t. Can anybody tell me how to "root" the software and change it? The phone kinda sucks. I will never buy a samsung phone again!
Skype is an application that runs on a smartphone/computer that converts voice (and possibly video) into a data stream and connects to another Skype user or a land line phone. Kind of like Vonage but using software instead of the little Vonage boxes. Skype-to-Skype calls are free but there is a fee for land line connectivity- but this is usually fractions of what a telco would charge. Also, since Skype uses data only, you are not using up 'minutes' on your phone when you call someone.
I don't think you are going to be able to 'root' that phone as it looks like it is one of the Samsung phone OSes- and not a Linux based OS.
As for replacing the software, you would need to find a website where someone has written a custom OS for that phone. This is pretty popular with Android/Windows Mobile devices, but pretty rare on most other devices. For that device, you are probably stuck with what-ever updates that manufacturer/carrier provides.
@Mike Vick Hey Mike - you lack the basic intelligence needed to google 'skype', yet you expect us to listen to your macroeconomic doom and gloom about the UK 'fading away'? Hmmmmm...
I am an Economics major dude. I don't know too much about tech although I do follow it.I just wanted a better explanation so please don't attack me. Thanks everybody for the help! It made everything much clearer for me. Skype sounds very good then. I regret getting this samsung phone because there are no updates for it and it appears all their phones are buggy ugh!
LOL! This is just too funny. Being forced to use a state run telecom and banning VOIP because profits are down. Passage of a health bill forcing people to buy insurance under penalty of law. China censoring everything on the internet and actively engaging in reformist history. The UK has cameras everywhere watching your every move. Damn...
George Orwell's 1984 come to mind? Hell it seems as if governments worldwide are adopting this piece of fiction as a how-to handbook.
Egypt had video calling 4 yrs before the US, and broadband high speed internet is a whole lot cheaper and more widespread than it is in the US. Stop the bashing unless you know what you're talking about.
And btw Engadget: International and Domestic Skyping has been working smoothly, no problems there.
The communications industry is light years ahead of that in North America. This is the fact any newcomer here notices on the get go. 4G has been in my area in Cairo for more than 3 years, and 3.5 G has been the norm for more than 3 years. No dropped calls, no spotty coverage, and much cheaper than the US equivalents of these services.
PS - In Egypt, when you run out of prepaid credit, you get 10-mins worth of free video calling on your phone, to compensate for the inconvenience.
@TareG Egypt is not light years ahead of the US (although I agree, the US Internet/Mobile communications is starting to look more and more like a developing country). Egypt has many nice things... This is not one of them... And you don't have 10 minutes free nothing... they will charge you next time you charge your prepaid card with 20% interest for the inconvenience.
@BetterHideMyUsername Nope, not true. They don't charge you for those 10-mins. Research has shown that more people finish up their prepaid credit faster to get to those 10-mins of free video calling.
What you're talking about is the extra $1 worth of voice calling. The 10-min offer is available only with vodafone and with Data-intensive users.
@TareG So they offer 10 minutes of video calls when you run out of credit? Oh then you say only on vodafone and only for data intensive users. I'm guessing more like their gold users, who get special offers anyways. Sweeping generalisation it isn't then.
@betterhidemyusername Banning KIRFs isn't that bad imho. Some chinese phones are ok. The ones that are produced with identical IMEIs for thousands of phones are getting band as they should be.
@TareG How the hell is broadband cheaper?512 kb for $20 is by no way cheap. 4G in your area!!! I'd love to visit you. 4G is not available yet. Do you live in year 2020 or what?
@Shanabo Which country are U living in? Wimax has been covering Heliopolis and areas of Nasr City for 3 years now. The problem is the limited availability of 4G devices.
As for broadband, it costs $20 to get a 1GB connection. The prices you're mentioning was 4 years ago.
Moved into Egypt three years ago and call my family in Europe everyday at least twice a day... all my international business is dealt either by email or skype. :( If this really happens (skype was working fine this morning), it will be a major hit for me. Somehow it's not surprising though and it could have happened, even if EG Telecom was a wholly owned private company. Just last month a law/regulation (call it whatever you feel like it) came out with order to disconnect china (KIRF) phones (which are sold at half the price the carriers sell their crap... and no I'm not talking about the iPhone, since that here is not subsidized and costs half the price of a small car) because they were not FCC/CE certified and thus not safe (despite Egypt not even having a regulatory body like the FCC or any law that binds it's consumer products to FCC) to the public. This law was not passed to new phones, but to all phones already in use (disconnecting 15 000 users in one day, and more in subsequent weeks). Can tell you many other stories like this (Egypt not being the single case... United Arab Emirates always blocked VoIP for the same reasons), but I think you get the point... Capability to compete is directly proportional to how many influential friends you have in the government... Many things related to consumer protection have been improving in the last 10 years, but sometimes, something comes along that puts all that hard work in the dust. I really like this country and sympathize with the government, but I really wish it wold work harder to take the 46% of it's population out of the poverty line, than helping the 0.005% buying their 20th yacht.
@BetterHideMyUsername Don't worry, WiFi video calling is still entirely free. This law is no different than At&t preventing Data tethering in the US...etc.
If I'm not mistaken, there was a time when Verizon/T-mo would charge you for Skype-calls on their 3G network. Typical Engadget misreporting and bashing.
If Obama has his way, this shit will come to US..........wait, it has! It's called some kind of Health Care Reform............wait again, it's Health Insurance Reform with backroom deals for all the union thugs and democRAT CONgressman and senators............LOL...................US is no better or freer than Egypt, so don't bash Egypt for that little government eliminating private business bull shit. Obama has nationalized the car companies, the banks, student loans, and now your fucking life!!! Cheers suckas!!!
You are correct Egypt is part of the WTO Treaty, the iSO and of the International Telecommunication Treaty. The typical way of not following the treaties is by placing the part of the treaty they do not agree with in an understudy status. This allows them to comply with the treaty with outlawing what they do not like.
My wife's family is in egypt and we sent them magicJack. they have TE Data as their ISP and it works great for calls between US-Egypt and so far there have been no problems.
But like many other countries in the world, egypt is way ahead of the US when it comes to data/broadband. You could get 24Mbps there now for years. They also have way more options/tiers for which speed you want to buy.
I know everyone is knee-jerk coming down on the gov't, there's plenty of blame to go around, but like many developing nations people steal the hell out of broadband connections and/or collude to illegally share it.
All the mobile phones inside the tombs They do international VOIP you know If you dial too quick (oh whey oh) Profits fall down like a domino ... Foreign types with the Internet pipes say Ay oh whey oh, ay oh whey oh Talk like an Egyptian
Here in Kuwait the skype website is blocked. Not sure if it's against the law per say, but the Kuwait telecommunications companies definitely want to keep it out of here because they don't want to be losing money and it's a huge business here in Kuwait.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
posted March 24th 2010 8:58AM
That's one interesting law.
Oh, I really hate this things... GRRRR!
That's not entirely true. in Egypt VoIP (Skype) has been turned off 3G networks. But one can still use it over Wifi. Which was the case everywhere I believe until a few weeks ago.
@dalsakr
My mother has Fring on her S60 phone, called me over 3G like 2 weeks ago.
WiFi Skype works normally, nothing affected.
And by the way, since unlimited 3G data plans are extremely rare, 3G Skyping costs a fortune ($1/ 5MB).... since all phones have WiFi, nobody uses 3G for Skypeing in Egypt.
Time to immigrate to Israel or Jordan.
@SuperGadget
Yeah I'm sure tons of Egyptians are lining up to emigrate to Israel.
@DTJ
Actually... The Bedouin are constantly smuggling Egyptians into Eilat. Read the news.
I myself am an Arab Israeli citizen. Life isn't bad. If you don't want to kill anyone you can enjoy life very well in Israel. The peace solution is very simple and Tony Blair summed it up very nicely, "the solution is simple stop firing rockets."
Typical.... gosh when will they understand that unless they evolve their services, VIOP is gonna keeping on coming at them (skype is not the only service out there!)
Same thing applies for the UAE... Friggin idiots...
@brokensticks I see this being the same as the war on drugs in the US. Sure its illegal, but it's really slowing things down any.
@Atkins
Jesus, well thats a normal and perfectly reasonable thing to do :/
That's what happens when you live in a guised dictatorship. Over 40 years of "emergency law" lol. Viva La Revolución.
@Atkins Guess what happens to the customer who opens his mouth to agree with Skype.
This is actually firly common. Until Skype/VoIP appeared, PTTs and Telcos virtually had a license to print money. Skype and whatnot pretty much wiped this out overnight. I feel sorry for the PTTs but not that sorry. They could have implemented VoIP way before Skype got in the act and with few exceptions, they did not do so. The way forward here is to embrace the new technology and to offer competitive rates on internet connections and to actually help Skype calls because the PTT will still make some money from incoming calls and reciprocal arrangements with other PTTs worldwide.
I wonder what is happening with multinational companies in Egypt who have VoIP connected to their company phone switches? I bet that is working just fine.
Its like ban the use of cars because government owned Public Transportation revenue dropped! Ridiculous!
@Adeel The UK government is certainly trying that one on us...
@r3loaded lol Yes, I live in Manchester and the look on their faces was priceless when over 70% of people in Manchester said "No" to congestion charges!
@r3loaded
Sorry to say, that is why the UK is in decline. Socialism, poor planning and excessive immigration. I say this as a Black man who isn't really "american" but the UK will fade away. It's a mere police state/welfare state and has lost it's power. Sorry to say.
@Adeel They did that (imports of used cars, and huge taxes in cars made outside the country) already
In effect, this is no different than if books or fax machines, or phones themselves were banned in some country. Egypt, for all its wonderful qualities, both as the home of an ancient culture and of a modern country is still a repressive place.
@Dr Yusuf AlKindi I'd say e-books or e-mails would be better comparisons. But yes.
I am a bit ignorant about this, but how does skype work? I have always heard of it but never used it. Also, I have a samsung impression for at&t. Can anybody tell me how to "root" the software and change it? The phone kinda sucks. I will never buy a samsung phone again!
@Mike Vick
It uses VOIP to make voice calls on your computer and other hand held devices.
http://tinyurl.com/y8e73ga
@Mike Vick
Skype is an application that runs on a smartphone/computer that converts voice (and possibly video) into a data stream and connects to another Skype user or a land line phone. Kind of like Vonage but using software instead of the little Vonage boxes. Skype-to-Skype calls are free but there is a fee for land line connectivity- but this is usually fractions of what a telco would charge. Also, since Skype uses data only, you are not using up 'minutes' on your phone when you call someone.
I don't think you are going to be able to 'root' that phone as it looks like it is one of the Samsung phone OSes- and not a Linux based OS.
As for replacing the software, you would need to find a website where someone has written a custom OS for that phone. This is pretty popular with Android/Windows Mobile devices, but pretty rare on most other devices. For that device, you are probably stuck with what-ever updates that manufacturer/carrier provides.
@Mike Vick Hey Mike - you lack the basic intelligence needed to google 'skype', yet you expect us to listen to your macroeconomic doom and gloom about the UK 'fading away'? Hmmmmm...
@Marmite Turkey
I am an Economics major dude. I don't know too much about tech although I do follow it.I just wanted a better explanation so please don't attack me. Thanks everybody for the help! It made everything much clearer for me. Skype sounds very good then. I regret getting this samsung phone because there are no updates for it and it appears all their phones are buggy ugh!
Are you sure this is true? I was just video calling my parents in Cairo, from Canada, like 10 hrs ago.
There's no word about it at all in Egypt. And believe me, a word this big would spread.
shows that egypt is one corrupt place... nice way to stop technology and development.
Yay for crony capitalism!
LOL! This is just too funny. Being forced to use a state run telecom and banning VOIP because profits are down. Passage of a health bill forcing people to buy insurance under penalty of law. China censoring everything on the internet and actively engaging in reformist history. The UK has cameras everywhere watching your every move. Damn...
George Orwell's 1984 come to mind? Hell it seems as if governments worldwide are adopting this piece of fiction as a how-to handbook.
@Darkseider Don't worry, it'll all come to an end in two years eight months.
Egypt had video calling 4 yrs before the US, and broadband high speed internet is a whole lot cheaper and more widespread than it is in the US. Stop the bashing unless you know what you're talking about.
And btw Engadget: International and Domestic Skyping has been working smoothly, no problems there.
The communications industry is light years ahead of that in North America. This is the fact any newcomer here notices on the get go. 4G has been in my area in Cairo for more than 3 years, and 3.5 G has been the norm for more than 3 years. No dropped calls, no spotty coverage, and much cheaper than the US equivalents of these services.
PS - In Egypt, when you run out of prepaid credit, you get 10-mins worth of free video calling on your phone, to compensate for the inconvenience.
@TareG
Oh, and you only pay for outgoing calls/SMSs, not incoming communications as well, which is just downright theft.
@TareG Egypt is not light years ahead of the US (although I agree, the US Internet/Mobile communications is starting to look more and more like a developing country).
Egypt has many nice things... This is not one of them...
And you don't have 10 minutes free nothing... they will charge you next time you charge your prepaid card with 20% interest for the inconvenience.
@BetterHideMyUsername
Nope, not true. They don't charge you for those 10-mins. Research has shown that more people finish up their prepaid credit faster to get to those 10-mins of free video calling.
What you're talking about is the extra $1 worth of voice calling. The 10-min offer is available only with vodafone and with Data-intensive users.
@TareG
So they offer 10 minutes of video calls when you run out of credit? Oh then you say only on vodafone and only for data intensive users. I'm guessing more like their gold users, who get special offers anyways. Sweeping generalisation it isn't then.
@betterhidemyusername
Banning KIRFs isn't that bad imho. Some chinese phones are ok. The ones that are produced with identical IMEIs for thousands of phones are getting band as they should be.
@TareG
How the hell is broadband cheaper?512 kb for $20 is by no way cheap.
4G in your area!!! I'd love to visit you. 4G is not available yet. Do you live in year 2020 or what?
@Shanabo
Which country are U living in? Wimax has been covering Heliopolis and areas of Nasr City for 3 years now. The problem is the limited availability of 4G devices.
As for broadband, it costs $20 to get a 1GB connection. The prices you're mentioning was 4 years ago.
Moved into Egypt three years ago and call my family in Europe everyday at least twice a day... all my international business is dealt either by email or skype. :( If this really happens (skype was working fine this morning), it will be a major hit for me.
Somehow it's not surprising though and it could have happened, even if EG Telecom was a wholly owned private company.
Just last month a law/regulation (call it whatever you feel like it) came out with order to disconnect china (KIRF) phones (which are sold at half the price the carriers sell their crap... and no I'm not talking about the iPhone, since that here is not subsidized and costs half the price of a small car) because they were not FCC/CE certified and thus not safe (despite Egypt not even having a regulatory body like the FCC or any law that binds it's consumer products to FCC) to the public. This law was not passed to new phones, but to all phones already in use (disconnecting 15 000 users in one day, and more in subsequent weeks).
Can tell you many other stories like this (Egypt not being the single case... United Arab Emirates always blocked VoIP for the same reasons), but I think you get the point... Capability to compete is directly proportional to how many influential friends you have in the government...
Many things related to consumer protection have been improving in the last 10 years, but sometimes, something comes along that puts all that hard work in the dust.
I really like this country and sympathize with the government, but I really wish it wold work harder to take the 46% of it's population out of the poverty line, than helping the 0.005% buying their 20th yacht.
@BetterHideMyUsername
Don't worry, WiFi video calling is still entirely free. This law is no different than At&t preventing Data tethering in the US...etc.
If I'm not mistaken, there was a time when Verizon/T-mo would charge you for Skype-calls on their 3G network. Typical Engadget misreporting and bashing.
@TareG Yeah... Just used Skype and it's working fine... Guess I went hysterical there for a second. :p
But now I'm suspicious about everything >.>
Meh. People talk too much these days anyway.
If Obama has his way, this shit will come to US..........wait, it has! It's called some kind of Health Care Reform............wait again, it's Health Insurance Reform with backroom deals for all the union thugs and democRAT CONgressman and senators............LOL...................US is no better or freer than Egypt, so don't bash Egypt for that little government eliminating private business bull shit. Obama has nationalized the car companies, the banks, student loans, and now your fucking life!!! Cheers suckas!!!
Socialist! Communist! Death panel!...er oh wait...
If Egypt is a member of the WTO. Which i believe it is, then this is infringing the rules.
According to the WTO, all foreign companies will get the same treatment as domestic companies get.
You are correct Egypt is part of the WTO Treaty, the iSO and of the International Telecommunication Treaty. The typical way of not following the treaties is by placing the part of the treaty they do not agree with in an understudy status. This allows them to comply with the treaty with outlawing what they do not like.
My wife's family is in egypt and we sent them magicJack. they have TE Data as their ISP and it works great for calls between US-Egypt and so far there have been no problems.
But like many other countries in the world, egypt is way ahead of the US when it comes to data/broadband. You could get 24Mbps there now for years. They also have way more options/tiers for which speed you want to buy.
I know everyone is knee-jerk coming down on the gov't, there's plenty of blame to go around, but like many developing nations people steal the hell out of broadband connections and/or collude to illegally share it.
@Atkins State owned telecom pyramid scam, that's what it is.
All the mobile phones inside the tombs
They do international VOIP you know
If you dial too quick (oh whey oh)
Profits fall down like a domino
...
Foreign types with the Internet pipes say
Ay oh whey oh, ay oh whey oh
Talk like an Egyptian
When skpe was banned in Egypt's land -
let my people go
oppressed so hard they could not stand,
let my people go.
Go down, Josh,
way down in Egypt's land;
tell old Pharaoh
to let my people go.
Here in Kuwait the skype website is blocked. Not sure if it's against the law per say, but the Kuwait telecommunications companies definitely want to keep it out of here because they don't want to be losing money and it's a huge business here in Kuwait.