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Little Raven
Joined: 15 Jan 2008
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 Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 8:17 pm Post subject: Vonage in Korea?? |
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| Hello! I am moving to Seoul in all of 3 days. I just bought a Vonage setup and was going to do as a friend did in Costa Rica, and have a US phone number in Korea to call back home. After just checking online to see what the deal is about using Vonage in Korea, I've come across about 50 internet posts saying about 50 different things regarding bans by South Korea, and protests by the US military, etc, etc. So what is the real deal?? Can I or can't I use it while I'm there (given I get it 100% set up while I'm still in the states)? Any thoughts would be great so I can return the thing (and be disappointed) before I take off. Thanks! |
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tractor
Joined: 26 Jan 2008
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| Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 9:24 pm Post subject: |
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from here:
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Last year, the Korean government decided to regulate VoIP as a �basic telecommunications service,� not as an unregulated �information service� or �value-added service� as it is in the United States. What that means in practice is that in Korea, VoIP service is subject to the same regulations as normal phone services. In other words, a VoIP service provider needs to have a license from the Korean government in order to operate, just like KT (or AT&T in the U.S.) needs a license to provide normal phone service.
Our understanding is that VoIP services that only allow for computer-to-computer calls (as opposed to VoIP services through a traditional phone handset) will still be allowed, as will VoIP services provided by licensed Korean telecoms firms. You may wish to research these options for your personal use.
Whether or not VoIP should be classified as a �basic telecommunications service� and be regulated, or as a �value added? or �information service� and be unregulated, is basically a matter for Korean regulators to decide. However, the U.S. Government is working to persuade Korea to allow U.S. companies to provide this kind of service in Korea, as long as they comply with Korean regulations. |
The article was written a while back and since K-telecoms have a lot of say on regulations, they still probably don't want US competition.
But there is always the skype option. you can buy hardware here that will work with VOIP. You can get a skype-in korea number through skype.auction.co.kr
edit:
there is a way to bypass the non computer VOIP data blocking by Korean ISP. Go to HotspotVPN for more info. So there is a good chance that vonage might work here. |
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enns
Joined: 02 May 2006
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| Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 8:33 pm Post subject: |
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Just use Skype.
You can get a US phone # for I think $3/month and your monthly bill will be a tenth of what it will be for Vonage. |
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