Is VoIP fully LEGAL in India ?

sh@sh! said:
That is one way to look at it but another thing which needs to be considered is that if voip calls are made free then the call rates of our gsm network would go up ( like in US ). just my thoughts
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Why only GSM network ? Why not also the landline as well ... ?

People are ditching traditional landlines to go for Naked ADSL...

And VoIP could be only *one* of a range of factors ...

Here, look at this report - There are now more wireless subscriber connections in the U.S. than people

So, more devices connecting to the wireless network ! These devices may be mobile phones, tablets etc.... People are becoming more and more mobile everyday !

Heck, you wanna hear something more ?

VoIP companies now even have apps for iPhone/Android so that when you are away from home, you can still call via VoIP using the cellular data network (3G for a good quality), thus even bypassing the celular voice network.

I guess when one technology replaces another, the older one becomes expensive to maintain/produce. Another typical example would be prices of DDR1 and DDR3 RAM... Older RAM become more expensive when newer technology arrives !

But fear not, in India, there are enough people for every technology to survive !
 
linuxtechie said:
It's not that simple dude, the legal matters are more directed towards PSTN gateways, wherein a voip terminates into a PSTN network and them some wireless network. Its very simple to do this and one can make quick bucks. That's what's not allowed.

+LT
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care to elaborate on the bold part? AFAIK any sort of PSTN to VoIP interfacing is not allowed in India when terminating/originating calls in/from india
linuxtechie said:
Exactly, I have the same equipment with me and believe me, its child play to setup the 'mini exchange', lets call it gateway. I was gonna do it for my sister in US but then wasn't too comfy :)
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What an erstwhile sipura or the present linksys SPA?

or Asterix with digium?

or maybe those expensive GSM devices? :)
 
cyberwiz said:
care to elaborate on the bold part? AFAIK any sort of PSTN to VoIP interfacing is not allowed in India when terminating/originating calls in/from india
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Hmm, right, a direct/indirect connection from VOIP to PSTN is illegal,for e.g. someone calls my US voip number and the is presented with some option to dial an india local/mobile number. That's illegal, as its circumvention of DOT.

cyberwiz said:
What an erstwhile sipura or the present linksys SPA?
or Asterix with digium?
or maybe those expensive GSM devices? :)
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Uhh the GSM devices are damn expensive. its the puny SPA3102. I see that you are aware of VOIP. Any recommendations for cheap FXO to GSM/CDMA Phones? ;)
+LT
 
After reading the whole thread, I have one question.

I called Indian Mobile Numbers many times using Skype, but never got any problem. So I guess I'm missing out something.
 
linuxtechie said:
Uhh the GSM devices are damn expensive. its the puny SPA3102. I see that you are aware of VOIP. Any recommendations for cheap FXO to GSM/CDMA Phones? ;)
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umm..FXO to GSM devices do exist even reasonably priced ones..never heard of FXO to GSM phone ..logically thinking how can one even exist??
 
krishnandu said:
After reading the whole thread, I have one question.

I called Indian Mobile Numbers many times using Skype, but never got any problem. So I guess I'm missing out something.
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Yes,I do this too by paying Skype a monthly free.I don't think it is illegal.
 
Does anyone know anything about Magic Jack ?? This thing is available in US here and it talks about connecting the phone and internet line to device. They claim to work anywhere in the world where one has a landline (??) and internet connection.

Never bothered to see what this thing is.
 
@shrjun Ok, thanks for confirming, but then the question came to my mind because peoples over here are saying that VoIP calls to Mobile Phones in India is illegal.

So what's the case actually??
 
krishnandu said:
After reading the whole thread, I have one question.

I called Indian Mobile Numbers many times using Skype, but never got any problem. So I guess I'm missing out something.
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Well since you are following Skype route that is following DOT guidelines, there is no problem.
cyberwiz said:
umm..FXO to GSM devices do exist even reasonably priced ones..never heard of FXO to GSM phone ..logically thinking how can one even exist??
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Well, my bad, please read that as device. Can you suggest one, what is the price range?
raksrules said:
Does anyone know anything about Magic Jack ?? This thing is available in US here and it talks about connecting the phone and internet line to device. They claim to work anywhere in the world where one has a landline (??) and internet connection.

Never bothered to see what this thing is.
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Yeah, I did consider about it, but back then it was stuck to using PC and hence was not a choice. Also, the service is hooked upto using the device hence I didn't really like that binding. I am much happy with localphone.com.
krishnandu said:
@shrjun Ok, thanks for confirming, but then the question came to my mind because peoples over here are saying that VoIP calls to Mobile Phones in India is illegal.

So what's the case actually??
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Umm read it this way:

US Originating Call -> VOIP Proxy/Server -> VOIP Client (Cisco SPA3102, In Pune, India) -> Dial out India Mobile Number using BSNL as if call originated from my land line.

Here above, DOT is totally shunted out, in above if you look up at it, is an actual ISD call for which DOT gets some revenue, but not anymore, hence illegal.

Made sense?
 
krishnandu said:
After reading the whole thread, I have one question.

I called Indian Mobile Numbers many times using Skype, but never got any problem. So I guess I'm missing out something.
Click to expand...
shrjun said:
Yes,I do this too by paying Skype a monthly free.I don't think it is illegal.
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Well, if you are in india and using skype to call a landline or mobile in India itself, i'm afraid that would illegal but if you are calling from abroad that should be ok depending on how skype routes the call/

linuxtechie said:
Well, my bad, please read that as device. Can you suggest one, what is the price range?
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well..this one is actually a FXS to GSM device, analogue one..it can connect to the 3102's FXO port to provide GSM access.

Visiontek 81G GSM Fixed Cellular Terminal gateway | eBay

gateways that offer inbuilt GSM-VoIP/SIP integration are damn expensive
 
Pardon me for my ignorance on VOIP technology and laws in India. This might sound wierd but is it possible to have an India number and use it in US throug VOIP like Vonage ?
I also want to use the same India number to call to India LAN/ Mobile numbers from US. If there are companies like Vonage in India please let me know. Thanks so much !!
 
I want to clarify one thing:

Here we are talking about two things : First is the internet, which is packet-switched, and the PSTN (The telephone network), which is circuit-switched. These are two different things having two completely different infrastructures. Internet-to-internet calls are okay, as are the phone-to-phone calls, no matter from or to where you are calling. The problem arises when it comes to calls from one infrastructure to other. e.g : If you are calling from Skype to phone, your call has to be transferred from the internet infrastructure (which Skype uses), to PSTN. This transfer is done via a gateway, called the "VoIP gateway". As per TRAI, its illegal to have a VoIP gateway in India. It isn't the calling or called country which matters, what matters is where your call is being transferred from the internet to PSTN. So, even if you are calling from Skype to a number in India, that's legal provided your call is transferred from the internet framework to PSTN via a gateway located in another country, and from there your call connects to the phone number via the traditional PSTN network. Now, that of course makes that an ISD call, and that is the very reason why Internet Telephony calls to India are costlier than to most European countries or the US.

I hope this explanation helps.
 
raksrules said:
Does anyone know anything about Magic Jack ?? This thing is available in US here and it talks about connecting the phone and internet line to device. They claim to work anywhere in the world where one has a landline (??) and internet connection.

Never bothered to see what this thing is.
Click to expand...

It works great without any issues, i have been using the same for a long time now.
 
Hello All,

Kindly help me letting me aware if it is legal to use my PSTN line at home connected to FXO/VOIP gateway and using it at office
(few miles far) or out of city withing India with a SIP client to receive or make calls withing India using my PSTN number ?

This is just to ensure I get calls on my remote SIP client when not at home or to make calls using my known PSTN number to clients
 
deeparnak said:
I want to clarify one thing:



Here we are talking about two things : First is the internet, which is packet-switched, and the PSTN (The telephone network), which is circuit-switched. These are two different things having two completely different infrastructures. Internet-to-internet calls are okay, as are the phone-to-phone calls, no matter from or to where you are calling. The problem arises when it comes to calls from one infrastructure to other. e.g : If you are calling from Skype to phone, your call has to be transferred from the internet infrastructure (which Skype uses), to PSTN. This transfer is done via a gateway, called the "VoIP gateway". As per TRAI, its illegal to have a VoIP gateway in India. It isn't the calling or called country which matters, what matters is where your call is being transferred from the internet to PSTN. So, even if you are calling from Skype to a number in India, that's legal provided your call is transferred from the internet framework to PSTN via a gateway located in another country, and from there your call connects to the phone number via the traditional PSTN network. Now, that of course makes that an ISD call, and that is the very reason why Internet Telephony calls to India are costlier than to most European countries or the US.



I hope this explanation helps.
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Yes it surely does. And that explains why most VoIP providers have expensive calling towards India, but outward calls are much cheaper.

Just another doubt - many a times in the news it comes that some x or y person has been arrested for illegally operating a telephone exchange in India. So technically they are operating a circuit switching exchange ? Is that right ?
 
TheBroker said:
Just another doubt - many a times in the news it comes that some x or y person has been arrested for illegally operating a telephone exchange in India. So technically they are operating a circuit switching exchange ? Is that right ?
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Yes. They buy bulk minutes to india from foreign calling card company.
That exchange consistent of 24 or 48 landlines. landlines feed into channel bank a.k.a gateway and channel bank is connected to router.
Thats how they move the traffic and makes the money. It was very good business 10-12 years back. Not anymore. :(
 
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