Hi,all!

As most of you know, I'm a member of another forum for USAF spouses, one that serves spouses world-wide,and believe it or not has the sanction of the AF,and this topic has come into discussion there in a big way!

Vonage has apparently already been contacted by many users affected by this situation,and the following information comes from a post on that board:

"just called up Vonage for my hubby and asked what they are planning on doing for all of their members who are in the Armed Forces and in South Korea and about the blockage on July 1st. They took all of my information and my name to this list of people that called in. Supposely, they are taking all of the names and information of people that they call in, asking about the situation, and using that information in making deals with the South Korean govenrment about the VoIP blockage.
Here's what needs to happen...if you and your spouse are currently using Vonage to communicate while one of you are in South Korea, you need to call the Vonage Company, and just ask what they are planning to do about the blockage taking place. Also, mention that you are in the United States Air Force, or whatever branch it may be. The number is 1-VONAGE-HELP (1-866-243-4357). They will give you the usually list of options to choose from, and I started with Techincal Support and just picked a choice after that, knowing that I would get steered in the right direction, and I did."

Hope this helps, maybe by everyone working together to get this changed, we can accomplish something, or at least get the ball rolling!

Dee :)

Our post Commanders Wife, Eveidently she was in on the Vonage thing. She just emailed and said the ban for now is lifted. SO Saturday you will beable to still use your vonage.

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CH-47 SI

They must find it difficult...

Those who have taken authority as the truth, rather than truth as the authority. --Gerald Massey

I wonder if there going to ban Skype?

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What happens by doing this?

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From the SSRT Website:
http://www.i-mnet.com/bbs/view.jsp?t...=&s_key=&no=77

Date : June 30, 2006


To :
SSRT Co, Ltd Tel : +82 2 516 5877


From :
Carrier Account Team
DACOM Corporation, Seoul Tel : +82 2 2089 5439
Fax : +82 2 2089 0746


Subject : The delay of the illegal VoIP services stoppage


Thank you for your continued support.


This official document is regarding the delay of the illegal VoIP service stoppage.


We have agreed to delay the blocking of illegal VoIP by the request of the Assistant Chief of Staff J-6, C4 Systems of the United States Forces Korea and also to minimize the confusion of the customers.


Please refer below for the new schedule of the blocking
? July 15, 2006 00:00 : Stoppage of illegal VoIP service


Please notify the customer in advance of the upcoming changes.
We are doing our very best to provide quality service. Thank you in advance for your continued support and cooperation.


Dacom Corporation

A lot of posts here are based on ignorance. If you read the Non-Command Sponsored thread, it is full of perceptions instead of facts.

That said, SSRT 'won' the contract with AAFES to deliver telecommunication services for Osan (and I presume all US installations in Korea). It is expensive because that is what happens when anyone has a monopoly on providing services. SSRT provides its services cheaper than anyone else who bid for the contract.

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JIMMY JOE

The e-mail I received via military channels proclaimed an indefinite postponment to the blockage. SSRT sent a different e-mail saying that the blockage would be instated beginning 15 July 2006. Who knows what the real answer is...

Of course there are other options.

Broadvoice, another stateside VOIP provider, has notified its customers that it is investigating a way to develop a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to tunnel through the block. That said, I have a colleague that is working with a private VPN and Vonage to see if there is compatibility. How does VPN work? Well I would suggest reading the www.wikipedia.com description.

Now another method that cannot be effectively blocked is by using PC-to-Phone type of software such as Skype, Yahoo! Voice, MSN Voice, etc. They work very similar to VOIP except that your computer acts as the phone. How it differs technically from VOIP is beyond me, but you can get a stateside number that people can call and when they do your computer 'rings'. There are some minor inconveniences from VOIP, but these methods are virtually impossible to block.

Good Luck!

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JIMMY JOE

Anyone have anymore infomation?

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And I suppose AAFES doesn't make any profit whatsoever in this deal?

There are provisions in the bidding process for military contracts that preclude the automatic awarding of a contract simply based on lowest bid. How this was awarded to SSRT - I don't know. Presumably it was based on them having the lowest bid. But it very well could be that someone else under bid them, but they still got the contract.

I must confess that I do not have a grasp of the financial relationship between the two. But I think that the lack of value is due to the limited number of potential 'retailers' and not some conspiracy to wring us dry.

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JIMMY JOE