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Blocking VoIP Calls?

December 2, 2005

Apparently, the Israeli government has ordered ISPs to block VoIP traffic on their networks.  The government is concerned (like the Telcos here) that VoIP traffic is being used to by-pass the international gateway facility. The ISPs have responded by saying that they’re not aware their networks are being used for this purpose.

I’m not a technical guy but I think what the ISPs are saying is that they can’t stop VoIP traffic.  I once talked to a network admin in an Asean University and he said he has found no way to block the use of Skype on their network.  The reason is that Skype uses all sorts of ports in the course of one call.  So, the most they can do is monitor the fact that a Skype conversation is in progress but they can’t stop it.

I think the same is true for VoIP calls.  How can the ISP determine which packets are being used for VoIP calls?  Aren’t VoIP IP packets identical to email or WWW IP packets?  (more…)

Posted by JJ Disini at 8:00 am | permalink | comments[4]