AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums Belize Life Living in Belize Internet voice to land line service?

Lorne Jackson/Grumpy & Happy - good service and on time

Ken Shumann - no service if he ever gets there (do not pay him unless/until you are certain that you have been delivered what you requested)

Julian Rivero - if you can get him to arrive he will eventually give you a half(@#$!) try


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*** DW7000/7700 Monthly Service Levels ***

CONSUMER PLANS

Residential Service = $59/month (35 upload, 400 download)

Professional Service = $69/month (35 upload, 400 download)

Professional Service = $89/month with 1 IP address (35 upload, 400 download)

All consumer plans are currently available on any of the following satellites > AMC3 - AMC9 - SM5 - G4R - G11 - HZN - G3C -IA8

BUSINESS PLANS

Small Office @ $130/month (80up/700down)
Business Internet @ $160/month (80up/700down)
Small Office & Professional are available on >> AMC3 - AMC9 - SM5 - G4R - G11 - HZN - G3C -IA8

Internet Access 100 = $89/month (200up/1000down) needs 1 watt TX/0.74 meter minimum
Upload Threshold (FAP) 50MB
Download Threshold (FAP) 500MB
Available on AMC9 83� >> http://dbstv.com/v2/eirp/map_AMC9.swf
Also available on both IA8 @ 89� >>http://dbstv.com/v2/eirp/map_IA8.swf

Internet Access 300 (G11)= $225/month (500up/2000down) needs 2 watt TX/0.98 meter minimum
Upload Threshold (FAP) 100MB
Download Threshold (FAP) 1250MB
Available on IA8 & G11
IA8 >> http://dbstv.com/v2/eirp/map_IA8.swf
G11 >> http://dbstv.com/v2/eirp/map_G11.swf

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VoIP/Voice Solutions?

Vonage? The very best (but you need DSL)
SkyPE? Works best with DIRECWAY
InConnect? Best for WifI Services (also good for DIRECWAY)
Crystal Voice? Works better than SkyPe if using DIRECWAY

[img]http://www.webtoastmedia.com/admin/houston_media/uploads/163__[/img]

Mel Berry
Houston Media Systems

www.dbstv.com
www.dbstvforum.com

Vonage will work with WiFi if you pay extra for their Softphone service.

My most recent info is that BTL has now virtually blocked (how, I do not know) all SKYPE and Vonage signals from working. So those of us who have marketing material in the US with US phone numbers or 800 numbers are not able to get any calls.....
Check out the belizenet website synopsis of the Constitution of Belize

THE CONSTITUTION for an independent state of Belize was passed on September 20, 1981 the day before our Independence.

It affirms that the nation of Belize shall be founded upon principles which acknowledge the supremacy of God, faith in human rights and fundamental freedoms, the position of the family in a society of free people and the dignity of the human person.

It proclaims principles of social and economic justice and equal opportunity. It recognizes that the will of the people is the basis of government in a democratic society in which the government is elected in free, fair and periodic elections"
Now can someone please tell me which part of the definition of democracy subscribes to the "utilities rule" theory???????

Well, let's see......apparently they are now working....for the moment. But have not worked most of the day. I suspect that it will not work soon unless BTL gets a cut.

The latest scuttle butt is BTL is planning to put out their own VOIP. When it is ready they will finish the block of others service through them.

So far as I can tell they've already stopped VoIP using their network. I get numerous rings but I can't connect to the caller. I know of no other country where the telephone operator is so corrupt as to try this. Surely even in Belize such interference is illegal? Not that BTL would worry about such niceties. The only answer is to stop using BTL as much as possible. As I said elsewhere, if they were to spend a small fraction of what they spend blocking the opposition on actually improving their lamentable service they would perhaps earn some respect. Is Ashcroft still involved with BTL? - it gets confusing. If he is then I'm not surprised at what's going on.

Mines working on and off. Public hearings re: voip and other related isses set for April 26th at the Radisson. Ashcroft is btl, again. The old flip flop-moneys no good if its stagnant. I'll get the btl scoop tonight at dinner.

Mine is down this morning. If someone calls me it goes straight to voicemail.

All BTL has to do to block Vonage is inform them (Vonage) that Vonage systems are being used in Belize. My guess is Vonage themselves block the service to Belize at the behest of BTL. Bear in mind you need a U.S. credit card to subscribe to the service. It's only really meant for use in the U.S., Canada and a few participating European countries.

I also have been down for the last few days with "fast busy" signals. I am NOT pleased. I am being told by BTL that they are "not blocking anything in any way", but that is cleary just a "company line".

There are many difference VoIP providers each using competing technologies. There are technical ways to skirt the software that BTL is using to block us. There are alternatives to BTL. Certainly satellite internet comes to mind, but the quality of voice will suffer over a traditional DSL line. I am at an impass. I hope to gather all the relevant information and take action. I assume there are others out there who are just as dependent on these lines, so you will be making similar decisions.

Is there a lawyer who frequents this board that can explain the legal issues here? Could you explain the philosophy of the unregulated monopoly in Belize and whether any anti-trust and/or censhorship charge applies against BTL as a result of their actions? What can we do? Can we use satellite legally (with VoIP)? Somebody mentioned on another board that BTL's actions may be unconstitutional.

I honestly have lots of ideas for BTL. They are acting like a struggling old fart trying to protect the establishment. They could be embracing the technology and profiting in new services from local businesses and telecommuting residents for years to come.

Maybe somebody from BTL could enlighted us on any upcoming competitive VoIP offerings. And if you plan on any "business bundles" which may include "un-blocked" internet (hint: and mobile/PSTN), I would certainly like to know before I cancel. I was happy with the DSL service, this blocking is a show-stopper. My $400bz / month is up for grabs.

Katie, do you have more details on the public hearings? Do you know who will be there? Will there be Q&A?

Chris, I have spent at least 5 hours on the phone with Vonage in the last 2 days. Obviously I told them that I suspect the ISP may be "mitigating" my usage. I sincerely trust that Vonage is smart enough to tell me if my service was cut off.

I apologize in advance for the overly geeky nature of the following, this is a more technical discussion I have started over at Vonage-Forums:

http://www.vonage-forum.com/ftopic12433.html

I'm going to try and keep any Vonage-specific technical discussion over there.

In that thread, I refer to a similar situation happening in Qatar that was dealt with politically, here is that thread. Interesting read:

http://www.vonage-forum.com/ftopic9854.html

Please keep this discussion going, post your experiences and what you plan to do.

This is Belize and we have to play by their rules. BTL is granted a monoply by the GOB. We use Skype over Direcway and to land phones in the US there is almost no noticable delay. If I call a cell phone in the US then we noticy a delay.