OK, Sipgate’s support was quite helpful, although a bit confusing.
After my first email where i asked if it’s correct that Sipgate subscribers aren’t reachable from other networks than their own, they said:
“Sie sind, nach wie vor, aus allen Netzen wie bisher erreichbar. Sie sind lediglich nur von unseren Partnernetzen aus gebührenfrei zu erreichen.”
(“You’re still reachable from all networks. Just that only calls originating from our and partner-network are chargefree only”)
This was a badass sentence; i read it as “you’re reachable – nothing changed.”
But it actually meant: “You’re reachable via SIP from our and partner-networks – from other networks you need you be called by the PSTN-number.” – which is not free of charge.
They wrote:
Hallo Herr Janssen,
Verbindungen über Ihre SIP-URI sind nicht mehr möglich. Verbindungen von anderen Providern die kein Partnernetz sind, müssen die
Verbindung über das normale Telefonnetz abwickeln. Dem Anrufer wird dafür ein normales Gespräch berechnet. Anrufer aus unseren
Partnernetzen erreichen Sie weiterhin kostenlos.Intern im sipgatenetz sind Sie weiterhin über Ihre Rufnummer und Ihre SIP-ID erreichbar.
(“Connections via your SIP-URI aren’t possible any more. Connections from other Providers who are not our partner have to use the fixed network. The caller has to pay a regular fee for a normal phone-call. Calls from partner-networks are still free of charge.
Inside the Sipgate-network you’re still reachabl via your phone-number and SIP-ID.”)
Allright, they changed their business completly. They want to make profit of inbound calls like normal fixed-network carriers or mobile phone providers do. That’s apparently quite a big business and Sipgate wants it’s piece of cake.
Sipgate has a list of partner-networks on their homepage from which Sipgate-subscribers are reachable.
Sipgate-subscribers are not reachable from any other network via SIP.
Sipgate-subscribers won’t be reachable by kphone, gnomemeeting or any other application which can establish direct SIP-calls if you do not use a registry which is Sipgate’s partner.
A pity, a real shame. I still got a handful of Euros on my prepaid-account, i guess i’ll get rid of these.
What i find really disturbing is that Sipgate didn’t inform their customers. Why do i have to learn this from 3rd party services? Why didn’t they write an email? Why did i have to spend two hours of my spare-time to figure out what’s going on? Thankfully i have a choice of a bunch of other registries which still offer SIP-service as you want it: Not necessarily free, but reachable by everyone who follows the SIP-protocol.
What are they going to do next: Will QSC stop receiving emails from T-Online because net-neutrality is for commies?
Posted by Alexander W. Janssen 
Posted by Alexander W. Janssen 
Posted by Alexander W. Janssen 