Skype vs. Ooma vs. other VOIP

Fellow ex-pats:

Prior to my arrival in Kuwait, I want to be as best equipped as possible regarding telecommunications back to the US.

I'm considering establishing a Skype account and purchasing an external cordless skype phone. But I have also seen products such as Oooma, offering similar VOIP where your computer does not need to be turned on.

Is there a more popular VOIP choice among the ex-pat community?

Any insight would be very helpful.

Welcome to Kuwait, unfortunately such software you can't download it directly from its website because most of them are blocked and proxies are not good choice as I know. You can get one of them from any friend in US, he can download it then send it as attached file. I have a friend in US sent it to me through this way and it is working properly now (skype).

I use a vpn to bypass the firewalls so you can access sights like skype and other things.  I'm using skype I bought an online number from them for $30/year so friends and family can call me on it and the service subscription (1.99/month or $30/year) which allows me to make calls to any US number at a penny a minute and free if i receive the calls. If you have a smart phone just download the skype app on it and your cell phone will be able to make and receive calls in kuwait to the US provided that when you get here your cell phone has internet. Buy a cell phone in the US before coming here because they are expensive here and if you already have one make sure that it is unlocked and can accept another carriers sim card.

Thanks, Amerileb.

How is the quality of service when you use skype on your cell phone? Is it better when in wifi?

Also, I have heard finding a truly unlocked phone here in the states is either difficult or very expensive. I'll do more research.

Thank you again.

So far I only used wifi to make calls on my phone and it works great. restaurant, hotels, and some apartment complex's offer free wifi just ask for the password. I haven't tried the cell phone internet because my at&t locked phone is so far not unlockable.  Usually if you can get your hand on a smart phone that is locked you can also google for a website that will unlock that phone for between $10-$50.  I have an AT&T Samsung Infuse and its proving to not be unlockable which sucks, I have had phones in the past that never gave me trouble when I would try to unlock them. My advice would be to find a used android phone off craigslist and unlock it... that may save you some money.  If your willing to pay $650 for a phone buy the unlocked apple iphone4 from apple website or retail store. They also have special offers here in kuwait on phones like the US cell companies do. The service here is pretty good although expensive.

The cell companies here in kuwait are
Viva - www.viva.com.kw/
Zain - www.kw.zain.com/
Wataniya - www.wataniya.com/

I wrote something about this on MyBloogle,

the jist of it is; VoIP is not blocked in Kuwait as a service, and not all service providers block all programs; for example, Qualitynet did not block nymgo.com, but fasttelco did. as such, payment to these sites is not banned, so u can still enjoy Skype & its competitors.

i heard from an expat that she was once told off for using Skype in public, so dont use Skype in public, JiC.