Our valued customer submitted experience below:
VOIP or Voice Over Internet Protocol is a communications protocol that turns your internet connection into a phone line. There are several VOIP providers, but some commonly used are Skype, Vonage.... etc. If you are working oversees (like me), living far away from friends and family, running a small business or simply like making cheap calls and even free calls, then VOIP is the way to go.
Unfortunately, having worked and visited several countries in the middle east (UAE, Oman, Iran) and now China I have come to realise that while enjoying the freedom of internet back home (Australia) other countries have restricted access. While VOIP is enjoyed by millions over the world some ISPs and even governments have taken it in their own hands to censor what their internet subscribers can or cannot do online. In some countries this includes havingVOIP blocked.
By having VOIP blocked the government in places like Oman and China can prevent the loss of revenue posed by VOIP. With VOIP blocked visitors from oversees are unable to keep in touch with people back home (unless off course you want an enormous phone bill which is what having VOIP blocked would lead to – a rich government but a poor customer!)
Working oversees most of the year meant that having my VOIP blocked was not option. Off course, trying to find something that worked was tricky but I now finally unblocked my VOIP! There are several different apps out there claiming to help those who have VOIP blocked, but none where good enough for me. If I was lucky enough to get a connection then the sound quality was poor.
So what worked? Well, I got myself a VPNaccount. A VPN is a Virtual Private Network. Basically I connect to the VPN server and get given a new IP. I chose a UK IP. The UK IP is then used for all my VOIP calls until I disconnect from the server. Having the UK IP allows me to bypass the ISP in the respective country be it Oman or Iran or China. They might want VOIP blocked but I don’t!