FaceTime/Skype/Messenger blocked

[aviation_enthus]

I’m well aware some in EK management read Pprune (listen up!!) but this is more for those considering coming to the UAE to work for EK/FZ/unnamed...

The last few months the UAE really cracked down on FaceTime/Skype etc and made it unusable (and illegal). Their justification is security but it’s pretty clearly a way for Du/Etisalat to make money out of international calls. Just about no other country on Earth has the same excuse for blocking these services.... except maybe China.

Yes we’ve tried various ways of getting around it but those ‘applications’ seem to work for some and not others. Even went so far as to use the legitimate C’Me/Botim apps and the 50dhs/month charge to ‘activate internet calling’. Those apps are pretty much useless.

So to those of you you thinking of coming here consider the frustration and anger this ban will cause for you and your family just to maintain contact back home, or even to speak to your other half while away on a layover!!!

EVERY SINGLE PERSON I have spoken to about this subject expresses their FRUSTRATION AND PURE ANGER at how ridiculous this ban is. If you want an example of the many small things the UAE/EK/Dubai do that just p*** everyone off for no real benefit, this is probably the best.

Rant over..

[Lascaille]

Do you not know anyone that can show you how they got BBC iPlayer etc working? Same deal, no biggie.

[aviation_enthus]

Yes we’ve got all that happening with Netflix and Aus TV shows. Just having no luck with FaceTime etc.

[maples]

And just in case you are wondering, IPTV is following the same destiny.

[dustyflightdeck]

No alcohol, no meat, no Skype, no vpn. What's next?

[TangoUniform]

No alcohol, no meat, no Skype, no vpn. What's next?

No Pilots...........

[Rated De]

When one looks back at 19th century England or imagines life in Ancient Roman times,complete with slaves it is easy to assume that these things are historical relics and humanity 'progressed'
After all children down coal mines ceased and unions reclaimed a lot for the worker.

A glance at the UAE or China and it is easy to miss. If all one sees of Nike is the shoes on the shelf, the sweat shops in third world countries are a long way away from the consciousness. Spend any time in any of these places and what one is looking at is the modern Orwellian and slave state.

Sadly all economies are leveraging technology against their own citizens

[Sheikh Your Bootie]

Still works a treat with a good VPN!!! Get one, no problems.

SyB

[dustyflightdeck]

Sheikh, not all VPNs are blocked yet but it depends which network. Mine is blocked on du. I believe many of them are now.

[aeropix]

i totally agree with the OP. VPNs are increasingly difficult to use and did anyone notice that Etisalat on E-Life is blocking WIKIPEDIA of all things?

i kid you not try loading any Wikipedia page on your E-life WiFi connection it is blocked! It works over other brands and on 4G but not on E-life. Another small but persistent frustration here making life just a tiny bit harder with no reason.

[Klimax]

The only thing that is sure not to be banned is the camel. The camel is just so cute and used for just about anything in the ME, including keeping the population under control. Go figure. ����

[GillEx737]

It is massively frustrating and a big downside to living here. I taught my elderly parents how to use Skype which was a reassurance to all of us when I moved out years ago. I'm not going to now retrain them on some stupid local service that is barely available in the UK to even download. I have found a loophole however - the EK VPN they use for us to get on the network wherever we are actually works with facilitating Skype - you just need to use the web based version to log in and it goes through pretty well.

[Fuzuma]

After doing some research on the net it seems the same VPN providers keep appearing as the “better” provider, sure you need to pay for the “better” providers, however having 24/7 tech support and a stable provider makes a big difference. I’ve been using the same VPN for 2 years now with no issues, works well.....

Or you can visit the DU center on the ground floor at HQ, and get a mobile package tailored for your needs. I have a monthly package that allows me to call internationally for 3hrs a month at 300dhs a month......personally that’s enough talk time with the parents and siblings overseas.....

[RK Blue sky]

300 dhs for 3 hrs? That is obscene! Like everything else here we are getting gouged for no good reason except greed.

[lfbb]

For all of you having issues with blocked payed VPN services, usually these providers use an app to install and to connect to the server, the local networks are blocking the apps and not the server connection. Google for how to MANUALLY setup the service on your phone or computer, it did the job for me and never had an issue again after struggling with many different services. In fact I set up 3 to 4 different servers manually just to make sure.

[Craggenmore]

and isn't it ironic that our EK EPT’s come with a VPN and Skype............

[Monarch Man]

For all of you having issues with blocked payed VPN services, usually these providers use an app to install and to connect to the server, the local networks are blocking the apps and not the server connection. Google for how to MANUALLY setup the service on your phone or computer, it did the job for me and never had an issue again after struggling with many different services. In fact I set up 3 to 4 different servers manually just to make sure.

Exactly the same here, and posted this whilst using it, have never had an issue with VPNs, Skype, FaceTime, and latterly whatsup by using the setup method as described.

[Mango]

Exactly the same here, and posted this whilst using it, have never had an issue with VPNs, Skype, FaceTime, and latterly whatsup by using the setup method as described.

Monarch Man, I sent you a PM

[Monarch Man]

Replied mango, hope it helps.

[Visual Procedures]

Was having trouble with a well known paid vpn service that I've used even in China for over 10 years. It was working, but really slow.

Talked to them and they gave me a new way to connect.

They said that the two UAE providers were not blocking vpns, because that is illegal. What they were doing is slowing them down to unusable speeds so people stopped using them.

The new connection details he sorted me with have me back to full speed "browsing" :D

[marniplod]

http://swupdate.openvpn.net/community/icons/ovpntech_key.png
You need a VPN with the OpenVPN protocol . The logo above is the OpenVPN protocol symbol

Conventional non SSL VPN's are vulnerable to detection and blocking at the initial connection handshake time, they are still using http://{IP} addresses and are therefore visible. OpenVPN protocol uses https:// at the initial handshake time before the anonymous tunnel of data is established, the same protocol the banking industry uses and therefore cannot be blocked without screwing up all the banks and financial institutions as well. For $100 a year it's well worth it.

For Apple ipad and/or iphone you download an App while you're in an IP neutral country (cos you still need to get to the App or website in the first place and they will have blocked it for sure), download the VPN providers OVPN file and away you go. Nothing else comes close to an OpenVPN

[viksdigest7]

Can you please send me how you do it?

It would be really helpful!

[safelife]

OpenVPN is completely blocked in China, hence very much identifiable.
Not blocked in China are AnyConnect and Shadowsocks.

[aeropix]

Hi All,

I am resurrecting this VPN thread because my VPN connections ONLY are being actively blocked and throttled by Etisalat in Al-Safa area. I am at my wits' end and want to see if anybody has any recent advice to share?

Here are my detailed description to illuminate the problem. I use Speedtest.Net to check the bandwidth on my connections. The baseline / non-throttled connection on Etisalat is rated at 100Mb down / 25Mb up and checks out at those speeds usually with 106 down and 28 up.

HOWEVER, whenever I connect using two well known, highly rated, paid VPN providers (one starts with "e" another with "w") they will connect with a fairly reasonable ping of 150ms but the speed is ALWAYS reliably capped by Etisalat at 1.0Mb down and about 0.7Mb up. So from 100Mb connection I am only getting <1.0Mb speed on VPN.

I have had very good and detailed tech support from both providers, and both are telling me that the majority of their Etisalat customers are getting full speed. Indeed when I use either provider at a public Wifi such as the mall, airport, or even at a friend's house (outside the neighborhood), I get something like 50Mb down / 25Mb up on all the VPN servers. I only get the deep throttling on my home network.

Even more mysterious, and to support my proposal that I am being individually targeted or that my neighborhood is being targeted, one night a week I've had an hour or two of full speed VPN service at home, presumably because whatever blocking tech the Telecom was using was off / or down for maintenance.

So I know two things, 1/ both of my VPN providers are functioning normally, and are accessible thorough many Wifi points here in Dubai and
2/ They are both being deeply throttled at my home, or in my neighborhood.

So does anybody have any advice to get them to lift the blockage against your home network? I just recently cancelled and removed my old Elife number and waited a few days and got a new number, new box, new router but it is still fully blocked / deeply throttled at home.

At least I hope to raise awareness amongst the few of us who are still on this forum. Any advice would be appreciated.

[donpizmeov]

Do not post the fix on the forum. Next time you go flying ask ya buddy .

[aeropix]

Obviously I’m not expecting a publicly posted fix. I just want to know if anybody else has the same issue and has been able to definitively isolate it to active blocking by the telecom companies as I have.

Ill gladly accept any advice or even commiseration in strictest confidence by private message. As much as I would like to fix the problem I’d really like to know if others have the same issue and get a gauge as to how widespread or isolated it is.

Thanks a a lot on advance.

[what_goes_up]

aeropix
Same problem and if you let your provider know where you live and that you suspect blocking, they will have a fix.

[Russell Kaymer]

Yeah, tell your UAE provider that your VPN isn't working .are you high?

[what_goes_up]

Yeah, tell your UAE provider that your VPN isn't working .are you high?

Let your VPN provider know... It's not that hard to understand!

[Emma Royds]

I have no issues with my VPN. I just change the country of connection and re connect when the speed starts to drop and it keeps ticking along nicely.

[safelife]

Guys google shadowsocks and be done with these VPN issues...

[aeropix]

Let your VPN provider know... It's not that hard to understand!

Just to update, as I said in my original post I’ve been online for several hours with both VPN providers and in spite of great support on their end and multiple manual configurations on my end neither provider could provide a solution that reliably surmounts what I must conclude is active targeted throttling by Etisalat

[aeropix]

just change the country of connection and re connect when the speed starts to drop and it keeps ticking along nicely.

Its both good and disheartening to know that the throttling is not citywide and that you are able to hop servers to keep things running. It’s good in that they obviously don’t have the computing power to block the whole city yet. I’m just miffed that I got selected for the special treatment...

However in my case the <1Mb throttling is across all servers, all providers, so hopping doesn’t help. It may be of interest to note that a few hours every other day I’m able to connect with full speed, presumably when their blocking tech is down for maintenance.

[aeropix]

Guys google shadowsocks and be done with these VPN issues...

I’ve been thinking to give that a try and will fiddle around with it in the coming week and report my results on here.

[aeropix]

aeropix, du & Etisalat have software which identify VPN's. ... Simply put, the more you use your VPN the faster the software will identify it and throttle it. .

This seems to be the case on my side. Although as I said above there does seem to be times when the locking tech is temporarily turned off at my place, perhaps when maintenance is done on their equipment