Bringing An Ip Phone To Thailand?

[koheesti]

Does anyone know if there are any restrictions for bringing an IP phone to Thailand? A colleague of mine had the exact same phone when he worked out of Malaysia. He tells me that all communications devices like that need to be verified by the "Communications Department" possibly for the reason of making sure it's a phone and not something else. The one I have (IWATSU) isn't one of those cheap little things you simply plug into a usb port. It cost about $1000 and looks like a standard office desk phone.

[lingling]

Does anyone know if there are any restrictions for bringing an IP phone to Thailand? A colleague of mine had the exact same phone when he worked out of Malaysia. He tells me that all communications devices like that need to be verified by the "Communications Department" possibly for the reason of making sure it's a phone and not something else. The one I have (IWATSU) isn't one of those cheap little things you simply plug into a usb port. It cost about $1000 and looks like a standard office desk phone.

I don't know if there are any restrictions on the equipment, but technically it is illegal to use voip for international phone calls. Or to phrase it in CAT vocabulary: "they will arrest you in prison for punishment". Just a few years ago, mobile phones came with a little credit card sized "radio license" issued by some government authority.

At the present, many providers of overseas calls worldwide acted on their own authority, which underwent continuous expansion.

It may affect all over the crisis-stricken country and sorely prevailed over the Earnings paid to the State’s Coffers. CAT TELECOM together with Royal Thai Police. have arrested these illicit providers in prison or property seized for punishment

CAT TELECOM LTD. , is provided all kinds of telecommunication services and other –related services, both locally and globally. In other words, CAT TELECOM has absolute authority over International Telephone Service.

To resolve these illegal problems , the Follow-Up and Verification of Working Group has been nominated to examine of accuracy of provided the overseas calls services

http://web2.cattelecom.co.th/Language_Temp...mplate_id=10174

(where do they find their translators?)

[koheesti]

Well, that sucks. I use my IP Phone for work and I'm not sure my boss will let me relocate without it.

How does this law affect Skype? Is it technically illegal but too difficult to enforce?

[lingling]

Well, that sucks. I use my IP Phone for work and I'm not sure my boss will let me relocate without it.

How does this law affect Skype? Is it technically illegal but too difficult to enforce?

It is technically illegal, but not actively enforced. Loads of people use voip in various forms; skype, hardware based IP phones and voip routers. Anyway, if you just bring your voip phone in your luggage, they won't have a clue that it is not just a normal phone so if there are any silly import restictions then just don't let them know that it is an ip phone. Just say it is your favorite phone if you for some reason is singled out in customs.

[Valjean]

Against the law?? I'm not a law breaker but I have heard from people that know that Vonage IP phones on a broadband connection work great as does Sype or MSN Messenger voice.

Now if I get on my soapbox: I don't understand why "voice data" (voice in packets and not circuit switched) is any different kind of data than email, music, graphic files and there rest other than the legacy monopolies most telecoms around the world enjoyed at some time. The war is over and IP won. There are Windows Mobile phones with WiFi and Skype. What are you supposed to do with that? This is just a difficult phase for companies to understand the new reality and how to make money in it. In perhaps as soon as 5 years and for sure 10 years this will be a moot point; you’ll have broadband that that will carry whatever traffic you want at the same price.

OK off the soapbox and back to law abiding citizen.

[lingling]

Against the law?? I'm not a law breaker but I have heard from people that know that Vonage IP phones on a broadband connection work great as does Sype or MSN Messenger voice.

Now if I get on my soapbox: I don't understand why "voice data" (voice in packets and not circuit switched) is any different kind of data than email, music, graphic files and there rest other than the legacy monopolies most telecoms around the world enjoyed at some time. The war is over and IP won. There are Windows Mobile phones with WiFi and Skype. What are you supposed to do with that? This is just a difficult phase for companies to understand the new reality and how to make money in it. In perhaps as soon as 5 years and for sure 10 years this will be a moot point; you’ll have broadband that that will carry whatever traffic you want at the same price.

OK off the soapbox and back to law abiding citizen.

The laws are not always in sync with reality here in the south east asian IT hub.

[koheesti]

It looks like I might be able to bring my phone but have to buy a ThaiTelephone SIP Account - http://www.thaitelephone.com/EN/Products/I...ne/index_IP.php

I guess I can post that link since their banner ad is at the top of this page.

[Silurian]

Data is data. Bring your IP phone. Use it. No one will care.

BTW - Vonage works pretty good. You get to have a US number that rings where ever you are. Or setup Yahoo with voice. It can also give you a US number.

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

Data is data. Bring your IP phone. Use it. No one will care.

BTW - Vonage works pretty good. You get to have a US number that rings where ever you are. Or setup Yahoo with voice. It can also give you a US number.

Jeeze if you followed the rules on the books in thailand you would be a freak. Did you know prostitution and driving without caution are against the law?????

Anyway I shipped a SIP IP phone from the States to Thailand VIA of UPS and no problems at all. Incidentally UPS has a list of things it will not ship to Thailand for legal/customs(Thai) reasons and the list includes all sorts of things like health products, clothing, batteries etc and they accepted the phone no problem but they rejected some vitamin pills and bicycling socks.

Next time though I would use registered Airmail because its a much better deal and I don't mind waiting a few extra days.

Edited January 31, 2007 by CobraSnakeNecktie

[Naam]

"they will arrest you in prison for punishment"

*****

:whistling:i am always scared s-h-i-tless whenever i make international phone calls through voipbuster or skype and make my wife lookout for the police through one of the front windows.

[Clipped]

there is nothing wrong with using IP phones here.....trying to make a profit from it is the illegal part, they bust you do to unpaid taxes...did alot of research on the subject a while back....

[toptuan]

Yes, VOIP is technically illegal in Thailand. However, I just returned from a trip to Panthip Plaza where they were selling crates of VOIP phones (USB variety) for 800 baht each. Go figure. (Of course, you can trust Panthip businesses to be model law-abiding vendors.)

I go with the previous poster who suggested that quick inspections by customs officials may not raise any suspicsions at all if your phone looks fairly standard (it's not attached to a satellite dish, or one-meter antenna, is it? )

Edited February 1, 2007 by toptuan

[katom]

Let me get it right.. All the 'oversea call' services that use IP phones (for make profit of course) is actually illegal ?!....?

[tigerbeer]

Let me get it right.. All the 'oversea call' services that use IP phones (for make profit of course) is actually illegal ?!....?

no no. those have special licences. they have rolling capital back into the "local economy"

to the op, just bring the ###### thing and use it here. nothing's gonna happen to you. tell em its a ######ing phone for god's sake. is that so difficult to understand?

[katom]

Yes it is difficult to understand... as someone here said the machine itself IP-phone is illegal.

My question is serious as I want to add an oversea call service through CAT TELECOM.

Do I need a speciel licence for this thing or its ok because I use a thai company(Cat telecom) ?

thats all .

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

Yes it is difficult to understand... as someone here said the machine itself IP-phone is illegal.

My question is serious as I want to add an oversea call service through CAT TELECOM.

Do I need a speciel licence for this thing or its ok because I use a thai company(Cat telecom) ?

thats all .

Sounds like its time you talked to a lawyer and you get something in writing. The lawyer can contact CAT and clarify the issues for you. Sunbelt Asia might be a good place to start as they could tell you who to contact for legal services.

If someone on this forum gives you advice and you start reselling VOIP services without a license then you might have big problem later. Best to talk to a professional now.

[kalaminsa]

Yes it is difficult to understand... as someone here said the machine itself IP-phone is illegal.

My question is serious as I want to add an oversea call service through CAT TELECOM.

Do I need a speciel licence for this thing or its ok because I use a thai company(Cat telecom) ?

thats all .

Sounds like its time you talked to a lawyer and you get something in writing. The lawyer can contact CAT and clarify the issues for you. Sunbelt Asia might be a good place to start as they could tell you who to contact for legal services.

If someone on this forum gives you advice and you start reselling VOIP services without a license then you might have big problem later. Best to talk to a professional now.

VOIP is NOT illegal in Thailand any longer !!

Thursday, 16 November 2006

NTC opens market to VoIP calls

Licensed operators to offer the service

The national telecom regulator recently opened up the market to phone-to-phone Internet calling services.

Sudharma Yoonaidharma, a member of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), said Internet service-provider licensees could now start offering a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calling service from phone to phone.

While the NTC's Internet-service licensees can automatically start offering the new service right now, those with no Internet licence must apply for one first before they can provide it or any other kind of VoIP services.

Earlier, the NTC permitted its Internet-service licensees to offer only VoIP calls from personal computer to personal computer and from personal computer to mobile or fixed telephone.

The NTC has allocated the prefix of 06 mainly for providing the VoIP service from phone to phone, including other new telecom-technology services, under its interim numbering plan. The phone-to-phone VoIP service will use the 06 prefix, followed by an eight-digit number.

The regulator is expected to introduce the official numbering plan next month.

The operators of the phone-to-phone VoIP service will also be subject to the NTC interconnection charge regime, which requires all telecom operators to share voice and data revenues between the networks involved in the calls on a fair basis.

VoIP technology allows free or cheap calls to anywhere in the world via an IP channel rather than a telephone network.

Among the existing providers of VoIP services from personal computer to personal computer and personal computer to phone include CAT Telecom, True Internet and TT&T.

Meanwhile, the NTC has yet to grant a licence to ACeS Regional Service (ARS) to operate a satellite-based cellular service.

Sudharma said the company had operated a satellite-based cellular service under a CAT concession and now wanted to comply with NTC regulations.

Sudharma said the NTC needed to examine first whether it could award the licence to ARS, which used an Indonesian satellite to offer the service.

The NTC has also yet to grant a licence to Shin Satellite to offer an international Internet gateway (IIG) service, pending further study of the application details.

IIGs serve as a channel for local Internet service providers to connect or exchange traffic with global Internet networks.

[jeffrosner]

Slip your phone into a phony carton of cigarretes - no one will notice.