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#212889 04/03/06 12:27 PM
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 2,461
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K
April 3, 2006
PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
59 Regent Street
Belize City Belize
Dear Chairman Gilbert Canton:

I am writing to seek your support in our efforts to obtain fair and reasonable telecommunication services. Belize Telecommunications Ltd (BTL) is stripping us of our right to be treated fairly and justly.
They have jammed the signals on VOIP (voice over internet protocol) devices marketed by such companies as Vonage, SpeakEasy, VerizonSpeak, TomatoVine and others. They have gone as far as jamming chat and messenger programs like Google Talk, MSN Messenger, Yahoo Voice and others. If BTL can prevent Belizeans from using the Internet to communicate using the argument that we should be using their telephone services, the postal service could argue that they have a right to block BTL's telecommunication system as less Belizeans write letters as they rely more on telephones and even more so now� the Internet.
This continues to create a monopoly which BTL should no longer have and forces us to continue paying exorbitant prices per minute for overseas calls. They sell TCP/IP but don't give us all the features; yet, they still charge us a full price.
It is unwarranted for a people to be held hostage by one company who already makes a substantial profit with fixed lines, cellular services, Internet fees and various other services.
I urge you to do what is right and fight the big fight. We are not able to do it alone and individually could not possibly fight them in a court of law due to finances. The PUC should not even entertain talks of this jamming as a possibility. The monopoly is officially over, but the people are still held hostage by the actions of BTL. Why should we be thrown back into the ice age when the world around us is booming with technology!
Sincerely,
Name:
Address:

Cc: Hon. Ralph Fonseca
Minister of Communications
Ministry of Communications
Belmopan City


Belize based travel specialist
www.belize-trips.com
[email protected]
#212890 04/03/06 01:32 PM
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Excellent stuff, Katie, is there an email address or phone number for PUC?

#212891 04/03/06 06:16 PM
Joined: Oct 2003
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227 1176
call and ask for their email...and voip #...


Belize based travel specialist
www.belize-trips.com
[email protected]
#212892 04/04/06 10:04 AM
Joined: Jan 2003
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Katie, will you be at the meeting April 26? Will their be a chance for us to really speak and give our reasons for how VoIp actually helps the country?? I plan to attend if we will have a chance to speak. It is just a few blocks from where I get off the water taxi, true?

#212893 04/04/06 10:53 AM
Joined: Oct 2003
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Yes, yes, yes


Belize based travel specialist
www.belize-trips.com
[email protected]
#212894 04/04/06 09:40 PM
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 655
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Hi all
I bought a house near Caribe Isle, and one of the reasons i chose to move to belize was VIOP technology...i can still stay in touch with those that really matter in my life.

Sadly, I will not be back to Belize until April 27...is there something i can do from here?

You have my full and total support...what can i do?

#212895 04/05/06 06:45 AM
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 477
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Check out:

http://bfic.wordpress.com

This site has been set up to keep track of this issue.

Local News
Downloads
News/Information

Lara, for anyone that is outside of the country, I would recommend mailing/emailing Katie's letter to the PUC plus continue to read the variuos Belize forums and contribute to them.

#212896 04/05/06 07:41 AM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 7,479
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Sent mine in.

#212897 04/05/06 09:13 AM
A
Anonymous
Anonymous
A
A further twist. As a PADI dive centre I use their web services, in particular their on-line student certification service. Recently I have not been able to access the key page used to certify a student.

At first I just thought the PADI service wasn't working, but I have now had extensive correspondence with PADI and they say that worldwide their system is working correctly - only dive centres in Belize have a problem.

I told PADI what BTL are rumoured to be up to, and their immediate response was that to do that BTL are almost certainly routing all traffic through a proxy server, and that in itself would cause the PADI site not to function. BTL confirm they have had a similar report from another person in Belize.

The BTL engineer confirmed to me that they are indeed blocking VoIP. He wouldn't be drawn any more on it, but I gained the impression he personally wasn't very happy about it.

#212898 04/05/06 09:18 AM
A
Anonymous
Anonymous
A
One further point. Can any dive centre operator reading this please tell me whether you are able to access the PIC processing page, and either way who your ISP is?

I know that the cable service uses significant parts of the BTL infrastructure and may be subject to the same block, but satellite should work uninterrupted.

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