UPDATED JUNE 2007
Internet (IP) voice and video are now global standards in communication for many industries. Many people have simply circumvented BTL’s blocks, and some have gone so far as canceling BTL in favor of an alternate ISP. It has been some time since this site was updated. We believe it is time for a reminder on how exactly to circumvent BTL and get what the constitution affords you despite the criminal actions of Lord Ashcrook:
- If you simply want to dump BTL, your options are SMART/SpeedNet or satellite. The satellite options are still DirecWay, Starband and now iDirect. We may cover these options as they pertain to VoIP usage in further posts. The goal for this post is to update residents of Belize on bypassing BTL’s VoIP blocks on their high-speed DSL internet services.
- If you use Skype or any other PC-based telephony service, the answer is a software VPN (virtual private network). Most people have used HotspotVPN and Witopia Personal VPN. For technical technical reasons beyond the scope of this post, it is always better to opt for a “UDP-based” VPN. AnchoFree is another variety of VPN that is FREE, but quality has varied greatly with AF expecially on 128kbps connections (BTL’s $100bz/mo ADSL service).
- If you use Vonage or Packet8 or any other SIP adapter-based product, there are two options. The first is to turn your PC, running the PC-based VPN software, into a “router/encrypt-er” for your Vonage box. Many of the country’s IT professional have been quietly implementing this service for their customers. Ask around and you will likely find a technician willing to help you set this up.
- The second option for Vonage users to purchase a dedicated VPN router, a hardware based solution. This alleviates the need for a PC to run the VPN and generally results in a much more stable and clear connection for the voice/video call. This option requires a service provider in the US or any country outside Belize to provide a VPN server to which your hardware can connect.
- The last option is to find a service provider either PC-based or adapater-based that uses the IAX protocol. IAX is a protocol developed along with the open source PBX named Asterisk and is currently NOT blocked in Belize. IAX is a less common IP voice protocol to its big brother SIP, but it works just the same. Future posts will include direct links to IAX service providers and IAX hardware.
The goal of this site is to protect the rights of the residents of Belize. We’re not interested in bowing to BTL’s intimidation. Some comments on this site in the past have suggested that these solutions should be kept quiet. We respect that opinion, but we must also respectfully disagree. BTL is acting criminally. BTL is a piece of a massive criminal scheme to make a few rich British Lords a bit richer. In their circles, Belizeans are a big JOKE. Why should we curb our mutual disrespect and disdain for their behaviour?
December 21, 2006 at 2:34 am |
I have added some pointers to this site. My site does contain a copy of Mark Espat’s 2005 address on the Telephone Mess, and pointers to the 1999 Report on the Services Sector which just disappeared from the government website.
I give you guys an A+ for coverage of the telephone hullabaloo, but the bottom line is…nothing has really changed since I came to Belize in 1999, except that DSL is a little faster than the old dial-up. Nothing like the 150K DSL I get from AT&T in the States for $30 a month.
Keep up the good work.
Rick Z.
February 14, 2007 at 11:02 am |
Dear Sir/Madam,
As I am very concern with the problem Belize is having with there ISP. AnchorFree Hotspot Shield is one of those software you may not want to support. AnchorFree contains a Trojan Virus in its installation and uninstall files. As Steve Gibson once stated “Thinks that are too good to be true, is probably too good to be true.” this is just one of them instance.
TechSupport
CaSS
February 20, 2007 at 10:36 pm |
Skype no longer works through Anchor Free.
May 28, 2007 at 6:17 pm |
Belize should look to emulate other caribbean islands such as Grenada, West Indies from which I have recently returned. They have just finished deployment of a fiber optic network and are planning Wimax deployment as well as a host of low cost, high speed internet services including a proprietary VoIP service (other VoIP providers are and will be allowed as well) all within a country that has been dominated by the monopoly, Cable and Wireless. The interesting part of Grenada’s story is that it is a partnership between the Prime Minister of India and the PM of Grenada who are working together to build Grenada into a world class IT infrastructure. One reason is that India no longer wants low level outsourcing (such as call centers) and is looking to pass this type of business to the Caribean or other English speaking countries. And Grenada is eager to grab this and other IT type of business. And why not? It is a multi-billion dollar business!
Feel free to contact me at: yukonpcornelius@gmail.com with any comments or questions.
October 2, 2007 at 6:18 am |
I am just a tourist here.
I hate the fact I can’t use my Skype to let my relatives know I arrived safely. Screw this mosquito plantation. Can’t wait to go back home.
November 23, 2007 at 5:22 pm |
hey dorian im sorry for u not being able to use your skype on ur trip here to belize but if u plan on visiting us again sumtime it will be available for u and ur friends….p.s. try corozal first…
December 9, 2007 at 7:02 pm |
all Beware in Belize B.T.L. IS SELL YOUR INFO.
PLUS THEY ARE STEALING WINDOWS FROM FOLKS PC
BTL. CANT NOT BE TRUSTED
HOW DO I KNOW THIS I KNOW THE TECS.
OF BTL. TRUST ME THEY ARE WAY OVER PRICED
I PAY 300.00 A MONTH THE BE BLOCKED
I LOST MY RECORDING STUDIO. IT WAS WORTH ONE MILLION DOLLARS
WELL BTL. BROKE ME DOWN AND BLOCKED MY VOICE
BTL. LIES BTL. LIES I SAY FOLKS WHO COME TO BELIZE GO TO MEXICO
HEY YOU CAN CHAT THERE
MSN IS A FREE CHAT BUT BTL. BLOCKS YAHOO MSN SKYPE
VOIP TRUST ME CUT YOUR BTL. PHONE LINE
HERES A TIP A COMPANY WAS GOING TO GROW
58.MILLION DOLLARS BTL.SOLD THIS INFO. THEY LOSTED WHY
THE OTHER COMPANY GOT THERE INFO.
NOW THERE BIG AND THE SMALL COMPANY NEVER GREW TRUST ME I RECORD
FOR A LIVING I’M NOT GOING TO PUT MYSELF ON THE LINE FOR BTL.
ANYWAY IM GOING ON YOUTUBE SOON TO TELL THE WORLD ABOUT BTL.
THEY LIED TO THE WRONG CAT. BAAADD BTL.
December 9, 2007 at 7:17 pm |
a big gap in the investigation of BTL’s missing millions—as it does in the case of the big passport scandal of 2002—and according to Davis
EVEN THE BIG BOYS OF BTL LIE AND STEAL
HEY WARNING TOURS AND {FOLKS KEEP YOUR PASSPORT AT HOME. WELL THAT’S A JOKE} DONT GET ME WRONG I LOVE BELIZE JUST GURAD YOUR PASSPORT
December 9, 2007 at 7:19 pm |
In December 2004, BTL had first lost $6.2 million that former Chief Financial Officer, Gaspar Aguilar, told Amandala had allegedly been paid to Dion Zabaneh, because the U.S. equivalent was not returned. Then in May 2006, Aguilar’s in-law, Hassan El Sayed, got $1.4 million to change, but BTL was allegedly not paid the U.S. cash
December 9, 2007 at 7:21 pm |
Moises Cal and BTL’s missing money
BTL LIES HERE PROOF
December 14, 2007 at 4:53 pm |
Does anybody know if VOIP is blocked on Smarts internet plans?
December 14, 2007 at 5:05 pm |
For two reasons – it is probably not feasible to run VoIP on SMART’s CDMA network. One is the performance of a cellular network is pretty shoddy compared to a DSL / wired network. Two is SMART buys much of its bandwidth via wholesale agreements with BTL… so the blockages will be applied either way.
February 11, 2008 at 5:34 pm |
Hey there everyone,
I kind of understand the situtaion here and i must say we are lossing big time here.
But even though we are loosing we are also safe from other type of attacks that this new technolgy comes with. So we have to cosider BTL and their staff because they know that Voip is very demanding and at the same time vey dangerous for a country that is not well developed like Belize…
thanks for listening…
June 9, 2009 at 5:19 am |
look grow up learn to get with the rest of the world thats how you learned about music and singers its called chat
March 6, 2008 at 6:06 pm |
Yesterday I made calls using Gizmo5 and I saw someone else use Skype.
It looks like Dean Barrow has kept his promise and BTL have removed their blocks.
July 24, 2009 at 6:32 pm |
Belize is blocking alot
Voip,skype,heck fire darn
think vsat.
I pay to use internet not to be blocked im 41 years old
diamonddave103@gmail.com
I cant hide my ip surf with my usa ip they block google sound packets
I Have a 58 Million Company
And I’m Losing my company as I Type
I lost 2 million us because I could not contact my broker on his blackberry man help. this is not joke at all.
diamonddave103@hotmail.com
I can give you all my pc data info if ya can help me.
March 11, 2008 at 10:15 pm |
ElDorado, are you SERIOUS? Come back and say that again. Today is the 11th. Tell me that you’ve been getting the service since the 6th.
March 12, 2008 at 5:33 pm |
The block has NOT been removed. Many people are using Skype and other voip programs, but you have to use a vpn to avoid the block.
March 13, 2008 at 1:20 am |
Thanks for the clarification, rdbz. I guess it’s not news that VPN works, but I’m puzzled as to why ElDorado got service. Probably just a lucky break. I don’t understand the politics or technology of lucky breaks. To me if an IP is blocked, it’s blocked. There isn’t a lot of luck to go around after that.
March 28, 2008 at 12:19 am |
I assure you it was working for several days, without a VPN. Unfortunately, today it was not working again.
I suggest people try it themselves periodically.
It’s not IPs they block but ports. I don’t use Skype but someone who does told me they got round the block by configuring it to use a different port number.
April 3, 2008 at 4:36 pm |
I have been using Skype, passing the block with Hotspot VPN, but it now seems that BTL have succeeded in blocking VPN as well. Is this possible?
April 3, 2008 at 5:36 pm |
Hotspot VPN is working fine for me on BTL’s DSL.
April 4, 2008 at 6:57 pm |
Diamond Record Studio Ltd
ok get this btl says they are a data internet
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
ok i say bring in a real internet
they say it’s a crime to do so i say
they lie and cry
well open up a new phone copany i say give us our freedom
April 23, 2008 at 2:59 am |
Tonight I got through on skype without running a vpn. Skype doesn’t like to connect but if it connects you can quick call and the call will stay connected even though skype goes back offline. Hopefully this is a good sign and will continue to work!!!!!!!!!!
May 15, 2008 at 10:57 pm |
Hey Guy, Asterisk phones work great, have been using for the past 6 months, work fine.
I guess we all agree BTL sucks, Couple of Months before Former S Musa sign that shit BTL, had companies from the US willing to set call centers in northern Belize, we foward serverl letter to the PUC, but they never saw the vision – jobs were lost.
May 15, 2008 at 10:59 pm |
http://www.kookytalk.com u all can get an account here
July 23, 2008 at 8:44 pm |
Hey Tell me about that Asterisk phones what is the benifit of it ,is it that it can us voip to call direct to a land line in owed by btl
July 30, 2008 at 12:01 am |
This BTL problem is simple to fix. But as Belizeans we must unite as one and stop playing party politics. BOYCOTT BTL. Its the Belizeans that make them money and its the Belizeans that can STOP making them money. Dont pay your phone bills. Let’s null and void the monoploy contract. If the government is corrupt. Take out BTL and the government. Force them to lower cost. If we dont pay the bills, the make no money, in right FORCING THEM OUT OF BUSINESS. Them we can make many companies come to Belize and compete with each other. Hence lower prices and better service. Its not British Houndras, its called Belize. Since 1981 since I last checked.
July 30, 2008 at 3:44 pm |
Does BTL block p2p like Emule?
So what is the next option as far as unblocked ISP, rates?
July 31, 2008 at 2:58 am |
Has anyone tried Strong VPN in Belize to use Vonage or Skype?
August 10, 2008 at 3:18 am |
even web call isn’t working. i hate this. it will seriously make me reconsider moving to belize. this is wrong! how can we call ourselves a free country and allow a monopolist like BTL to block our right to information.
August 13, 2008 at 4:31 am |
Gentlepeople. Muggy and buggy aside, Belize is a nice country. I’m working here for 7 weeks and your internet is the worst I’ve experienced.
I’d suggest you all to do something about these problems and quit complaining.
I don’t want to upset any one any more than to at least send some emails to BTL as they are clearly limiting your and “our(for the next 6 weeks)” internet.
Internet is a big part of my “life” as I travel a lot for work, and the ability to use skype is a necessity, not a luxury.
I’m not aware of your laws, but I’d imagine if you could not petition/sue/protest/something,, about this issue, then your civil liberties are limited.
Any way, baaad BTL, and beach aside,, baaaad Belize in retrospect. My experience in Belize has been a bad one, as I’ve felt isolated from my own liberties I’ve come to expect from paid services such as skype.
August 19, 2008 at 5:31 pm |
BTL started blocking Starband.net website. If you are using Starband for your email, but connecting through BTL, you will have to change some settings on your email program.
pop3.starband.net -> 148.78.247.66
smtp.starband.net -> 148.78.247.65
This will allow you to check your email. If you need to browse starband.net website, you can type 148.78.247.61 instead of starband.net, and some links might work – not guaranteed.
As I’m typing this, it seems like it’s working again, but in case it does not, I hope this might help.
September 19, 2008 at 1:34 pm |
I’ve just returned from a trip to Belize, while I was there I use a software called Vbuzzer Messenger, it works well in Belize. Due to the extensive travels to Middle East where VoIP is also commonly blocked, I had searched a lot of Skype alternatives, eventually Vbuzzer is the most viable software that stand the test. This is their website: http://www.vbuzzer.com/
September 20, 2008 at 2:41 am |
Just wondering if anyone can tell me the best UDP-based VPN to go with.
Wish those Skype3 phones were available here!
October 3, 2008 at 4:21 am |
I’m in Belize for a short 5 day trip and need to get onto my company internal VPN (which is already loaded on my PC). After connecting to the Internet through BTL at the house I’m staying at I tried connecting my VPN but got a time out.
Is this because of a block by BTL? Or is simply a firewall issue? I don’t need to use Skype but need access to my company servers back in Canada.
January 22, 2009 at 4:39 am |
Dear, sir, its very much important to be opend here because i migrated from pak now i want to be connected my school,family and friends through this site… because every thing is already set there..
Best Regards
Nisar
April 7, 2009 at 11:29 pm |
Hi I have bypass solution for VOIP let me know if anyone is interested.
Leo
July 6, 2009 at 2:39 pm |
Hi Leo,
I’m interested in the bypass solution. I have vonage n it stopped working. I’d appreciate any help.
April 8, 2009 at 10:48 am |
hi, Leo, Please tell me the solution for bypassing the voip, mail id : yasir.c@rediffmail.com
April 9, 2009 at 4:37 pm |
Hi Leonard,
i need the solution for bypassing voip, please mail me at metrobox@gmail.com,thanx a ton
April 22, 2009 at 3:27 pm |
Hi Leonard,
Would be great if you could give me your solution.
info@inforexgold.com
Thanks, Dave
July 6, 2009 at 2:42 pm |
Hi Dave,
Did Leo’s solution work?
August 17, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Hi Linda,
I am still waiting for Leos solution…. But if you wanna go for a solution which works for sure, but is not exactly for free, go for unblockvpn. The provider of this service is Michal in the Republik of Tschekoslowakia. Very nice guy, very good support and good price. 5 USD per motnh or 50 per year.
April 30, 2009 at 12:37 pm |
would love to test your solution.
llouali@yahoo.com
Thanks, lyes
May 25, 2009 at 9:17 am |
Sup Leonard
would try anything at this point.
hirariv@yahoo.com
Thanks
June 1, 2009 at 7:03 pm |
Dear all,
I’m currently in the final stages of R&D for a softphone based VOIP system that should work in Belize. If you are interested in Beta Testing, before go-live contact me at info[at]hissbz.com
If I get enough interest in the service, and the voice quality is acceptable (which I think it will be) I’ll go live.
Additionally, my system will be able to bypass any blocks put in place by BTL. My background is in Systems Consulting, Networking Technolgies, and Network Security in Belize and the US so I know what can, and can’t be done. No B.S.
Anonymous Bzn Engineer,
Bsc, Msc, CCNP, CISSP, GCIH
July 6, 2009 at 2:44 pm |
Hi,
How can I test your VOIP?
June 9, 2009 at 5:20 am |
i should tell folks not to go to belize
reason not skype
July 17, 2009 at 2:32 pm |
Did anyone find out if Leo’s bypass worked??
August 1, 2009 at 5:43 pm |
Has anyone tried OrbitalCom – Quiptel ?
Apparently they use VPP and SSL VPN to slip secretly below any ISP. The downside is they charge $15 usd per month (but includes 500 minutes to US, Canada and th UK).
August 2, 2009 at 2:29 am |
We are just a tourist here.
we hate the fact I can’t use our Skype
to let my relatives know I arrived safely.
Can’t wait to go back home say not to BTL.
and goodbye Belize forever.
September 1, 2009 at 2:08 pm |
Does anyone have the name /number website of the new cable internet company in belize?
has anyone used a VPn that still works??
October 6, 2009 at 1:33 am |
Staci -
Try GoTrusted.com or happy-vpn.com
Good luck.
September 3, 2009 at 2:20 pm |
can anyone give an update of the blocked vpns by btl now, i had one and now it does not work either. Is strong blocked? or Instavpn? I need some help here. jeeze i hate btl..thought things would get better under Nat but i guess not. lol got worse.