Airtel starts charging for VoIP, calls on Viber and Skype not to be covered by data packs

wTf

Source?

deal_seeker wrote:

Source?

www.telecomtalk.info/airtel-starts-charging-for… Sorry abt that. Its a PITA to navigate Desidime in Opera Mini. And no the new layout did nt help matters. Just reduced the information density. But I am guessing Opera is to blame here.

Stupid Airtel.
What next? They gonna charge their customers when they buy a new phone and use their sim?

Time to use VPN and boycott AirTel?

I Personally think This , And These Type of Limitations and Restrications can be easily removed by Using VPN, and I was Thinking to Write something about VpN , So anyone knowing better about VPN can post in Dost and Dimes..

happy2prog wrote:

I Personally think This , And These Type of Limitations and Restrications can be easily removed by Using VPN, and I was Thinking to Write something about VpN , So anyone knowing better about VPN can post in Dost and Dimes..

Dr Anshuman wrote:

deal_seeker wrote:

Source?

www.telecomtalk.info/airtel-starts-charging-for... Sorry abt that. Its a PITA to navigate Desidime in Opera Mini. And no the new layout did nt help matters. Just reduced the information density. But I am guessing Opera is to blame here.

VU and Karma for @DrAnshuman!

Edit: Someone suggested using VPN above. It is not a reasonable option because the call quality will suffer drastically.

Edit #2: Just realized that we might soon be dealing with net-neutrality issues in India as well.

deal_seeker wrote:

Dr Anshuman wrote:

deal_seeker wrote:

Source?

www.telecomtalk.info/airtel-starts-charging-for… Sorry abt that. Its a PITA to navigate Desidime in Opera Mini. And no the new layout did nt help matters. Just reduced the information density. But I am guessing Opera is to blame here.

This is a harbinger of times to come. Airtel, being the leading telecom provider in India, surely influences the policies of other ISP and telecom providers. Before this snowballs, I hope TRAI will come to the rescue and curb such customer-antagonistic policies.

VU and Karma for @DrAnshuman!

Edit: Someone suggested using VPN above. It is not a reasonable option because the call quality will suffer drastically.

Edit #2: Just realized that we might soon be dealing with net-neutrality issues in India as well.

Drastically..?? Seriously.??
It depends upon the VPN Service Provider Man..!!

Its A way to say “Marry Christmas” by Airtel Lets Port out from these money hoggers. by the way : Where is govt. now a days??

Bad move by airtel. This would result in lot of port outs from airtel network. I have never used VOIP on data packs since i don’t think any service provider in india offers decent 3g/2g network that can be used for quality Voip calls. Good old Broadband and cable networks are much more efficient for VOIP calls. Airtel customer care folks would have a hard time dealing with users since many users not aware of the new development might end up getting charged for Voip calls. What i’m worried about is a precedent where other ISP’s follows airtel and enforces similar tactics. As of now people should not be too worried since they can easily port out to vodafone, idea etc.

cybertechie wrote:

Bad move by airtel. This would result in lot of port outs from airtel network. I have never used VOIP on data packs since i don’t think any service provider in india offers decent 3g/2g network that can be used for quality Voip calls. Good old Broadband and cable networks are much more efficient for VOIP calls. Airtel customer care folks would have a hard time dealing with users since many users not aware of the new development might end up getting charged for Voip calls. What i’m worried about is a precedent where other ISP’s follows airtel and enforces similar tactics. As of now people should not be too worried since they can easily port out to vodafone, idea etc.

+1

Viber and Skype are their (every Telcos’) peripheral scare only. The reason for this change resides elsewhere .
http://androidworld.nl/nieuws/whatsapp-bellen-w… impending danger with largest customer spread

one can do their own math.
If a Telco permits use of such Apps (which have voice and text messaging), how many would still use the GSM/CDMA network instead of VoIP. What with subsidised data packs and near unlimited use possible for nominal costs of internet.

cybertechie wrote:

Bad move by airtel. This would result in lot of port outs from airtel network. I have never used VOIP on data packs since i don’t think any service provider in india offers decent 3g/2g network that can be used for quality Voip calls. Good old Broadband and cable networks are much more efficient for VOIP calls. Airtel customer care folks would have a hard time dealing with users since many users not aware of the new development might end up getting charged for Voip calls. What i’m worried about is a precedent where other ISP’s follows airtel and enforces similar tactics. As of now people should not be too worried since they can easily port out to vodafone, idea etc.

As of now people should not be too worried since they can easily port out to vodafone, idea etc.

It is only a matter of choosing between the lesser evil. and none are lesser (look up what Dhaval Vali went through for just standing up for himself).

vodafone and idea will follow soon ( AVOID GROUP, airtel vodafone idea)

Airtel did and gave an idea to others to do so too. Crap man.

what if we use Wifi ? can they still charge ?

Dimers using airtel should send port out requesr and also go to their show room and ask them how to port out of airtel. when they ask reason tell them because of this stupid thing. Hope someone starts a twitter campaign with hashtag #boycottairtel or something and keep it trendig.

rak007 wrote:

Dimers using airtel should send port out requesr and also go to their show room and ask them how to port out of airtel. when they ask reason tell them because of this stupid thing. Hope someone starts a twitter campaign with hashtag #boycottairtel or something and keep it trendig.

Was about to switch to airtel from Vodafone few days back.. Glad that I didn’t do that mistake..
But, if vodafone too starts charging, then I might switch to Reliance Jio as and when it becomes available..

DAN wrote:

what if we use Wifi ? can they still charge ?

WiFi doesn’t count as cellular network usage na? I don’t think anything you do on a separate WiFi network can be regulated by your cellular service provider.
Or are you talking about using VOIP on a device tethered via WiFi to a device on an Airtel network?

BTW, this might be a silly question, but how will Airtel detect data as originating from a VOIP app vs. regular data from Internet browsing? Is it possible to have a way to send VOIP data as non-VOIP data other than VPN?

Mr_N wrote:

DAN wrote:

what if we use Wifi ? can they still charge ?

WiFi doesn’t count as cellular network usage na? I don’t think anything you do on a separate WiFi network can be regulated by your cellular service provider.
Or are you talking about using VOIP on a device tethered via WiFi to a device on an Airtel network?

BTW, this might be a silly question, but how will Airtel detect data as originating from a VOIP app vs. regular data from Internet browsing? Is it possible to have a way to send VOIP data as non-VOIP data other than VPN?

As for @DAN’s question of using WiFi to bypass this check, you are thinking of this the wrong way. A WiFi router simply lets you use the same internet on multiple devices by using NAT. As long as the data packets travel through Airtel without encryption (i.e. without a VPN), they can check, block, charge extra, or do whatever they wish with your traffic.

As for @happy2prog comment about call quality depending on the VPN provider, the answer is yes and no. Yes, the call quality depends on how good the network connectivity is between you and your VPN server. But, at the end of the day, encryption and decryption take time and resources. Voice/Video calls are very latency-sensitive and hence the quality always suffers regardless of how geographically close your VPN server is.

When there comes a increase in Tariff… Airtel Raises its Hand First… BullShit ! Now due to this stupid Other operators vl follow the suit

deal_seeker wrote:

Mr_N wrote:

DAN wrote:

what if we use Wifi ? can they still charge ?

WiFi doesn’t count as cellular network usage na? I don’t think anything you do on a separate WiFi network can be regulated by your cellular service provider.
Or are you talking about using VOIP on a device tethered via WiFi to a device on an Airtel network?

BTW, this might be a silly question, but how will Airtel detect data as originating from a VOIP app vs. regular data from Internet browsing? Is it possible to have a way to send VOIP data as non-VOIP data other than VPN?

Not a silly question. ISPs can see and check data packets at the IP layer. So checking data packets with VoIP protocols is trivial for them. You have to use some kind of “wrapper” to avoid detection, which is exactly why we use a VPN relay (encrypted proxy) in the first place.

As for @DAN’s question of using WiFi to bypass this check, you are thinking of this the wrong way. A WiFi router simply lets you use the same internet on multiple devices by using NAT. As long as the data packets travel through Airtel without encryption (i.e. without a VPN), they can check, block, charge extra, or do whatever they wish with your traffic.

As for @happy2prog comment about call quality depending on the VPN provider, the answer is yes and no. Yes, the call quality depends on how good the network connectivity is between you and your VPN server. But, at the end of the day, encryption and decryption take time and resources. Voice/Video calls are very latency-sensitive and hence the quality always suffers regardless of how geographically close your VPN server is.

airtel is a bitch i no use airtel i do bsnl

Dr Anshuman wrote:
Exactly. For voice comms ping/latency is the main factor. Bandwidth is a distant second concern as human voice can be easily accommodated in 64kbps esp. if OPUS/HE-AAC is used.
Yeah ISP’s can snoop on ours data at will. Hell when I logged into My Airtel app on “Bluestacks” (using Airtel data connection) it automatically detected my number.

Man, I am impressed to see somebody on desidime talk about OPUS. You and I probably have some things in common.

dr.house wrote:

airtel is a bitch i no use airtel i do bsnl

Edit: Those who don’t get the joke, see this: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=.... To make it better, try to read his sentence in a Russian accent.

Very gracious of Airtel to include a cooling off period amounting to 6 months. Plus it looks like Airtel will soon introduce dedicated packs for VOIP. Wont that be in violation of an earlier TRAI order regarding this?
More info here: www.timesofindia.com/tech/tech-news/Airtel-to-c…
And TOI actually had the courtesy to give credit to Telecomtalk!

deal_seeker wrote:

Dr Anshuman wrote:
Exactly. For voice comms ping/latency is the main factor. Bandwidth is a distant second concern as human voice can be easily accommodated in 64kbps esp. if OPUS/HE-AAC is used.
Yeah ISP’s can snoop on ours data at will. Hell when I logged into My Airtel app on “Bluestacks” (using Airtel data connection) it automatically detected my number.

Man, I am impressed to see somebody on desidime talk about OPUS. You and I probably have some things in common.

Dr Anshuman wrote:

deal_seeker wrote:

Dr Anshuman wrote:
Exactly. For voice comms ping/latency is the main factor. Bandwidth is a distant second concern as human voice can be easily accommodated in 64kbps esp. if OPUS/HE-AAC is used.
Yeah ISP’s can snoop on ours data at will. Hell when I logged into My Airtel app on “Bluestacks” (using Airtel data connection) it automatically detected my number.

Man, I am impressed to see somebody on desidime talk about OPUS. You and I probably have some things in common.

Limited data forces one to get off his lazy ass. So I used to listen to a lot of podcasts & most were encoded in mp3 that too 128kbps. I mean u would expect the nerds to be more knowledgeable right? So I used to convert them online to OPUS which compressed them to abt one-fifth their original size with hard to discern loss in quality. Saved a hell lot of data back then.

Could consider signing this petition.
https://www.change.org/p/telecom-regulatory-aut…