- Sipgate
sipgate is a
Voice over IP service provider based inGermany and also operating inAustria and theUnited Kingdom . Their service offers free calls to other IP phones, chargeable calls tolandline s and mobiles and free geographical and non-geographical incoming phone numbers [cite news|last=Oakes|first=Chris|title=In Internet phone calls, broadband's 'killer application'|work=International Herald Tribune|date=2004-08-27 |url=http://www.iht.com/articles/2004/10/27/btvoip_ed3_.php|accessdate=2007-05-04] . Users may use either a software SIP client on their computer, a hardware IP phone, or a Software PBX such as Asterisk with the service. IP phones and other associated hardware can be purchased through sipgate's online store [cite news|last=Pritchard|first=Stephen|title= Tools of the Trade: The Netgear voice router and Sipgate voiceover internet service|work=The Independent|date=2005-07-24 |accessdate=2007-06-13] , which sells hardware by manufacturers includingGrandstream andUTStarcom .Besides VOIP, In January
2006 Sipgate began providing their customers with the ability to send SMS text messages through their website. Users can set the phone number of the sender to be that of their mobile phone. Sipgate also offers a feature called "Webfax", which gives users the opportunity to send faxes via the Sipgate website. A user can upload a .pdf file or type the text into an editor provided on the website. Certain plans also include an extension so that the user can receive incoming fax messages. Such messages can be downloaded by the user, or emailed as a .pdf file. This alleviates the need for a hardware fax, which can encounter problems when sending and receiving over VOIP because of the nature of the codecs used with VOIP.Sipgate allows incoming calls from some other partner VoIP providers, e.g. freenet iPhone, FreeWorldDialup, IAXtel and others. But they block the use of their service through some web-based PBXes [cite web|title=Sipgate is blocking Voxalot but not Fring. That's not fair!|url=http://www.goebel.net/technews/2007/05/sipgate-is-blocking-voxalot-but-not.html|accessdate=2007-05-04] .
In September 2008, the Higher Regional Court of
Hamburg (Germany) sided withT-Mobile 's request and issued an injunction preventing the download of Sipgate, baringiPhone owners to place calls over the device's internet connection rather than over T-Mobile's cellphone network. Sipgate's Thilo Salmon declared that Sipgate was not allowed to argue its case before the Hamburg court prior to the injunction being issued, and that T-Mobile had spent two months trying to find a court that would side with it. The injunction prevents Sipgate from advertising and distributing the software. However, the same court upheld an injunction against T-Mobile issued in July that prevents the carrier from advertising the iPhone in Germany. Sipgate said T-Mobile's advertising, which claims "unlimited" internet usage but with a host of restrictions – including a ban on VoIP – was misleading, a position the court agreed with. [ [http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/09/11/tech-iphone.html German court bans VoIP on iPhone] , September 11, 2008,CBC News]References
External links
* [http://www.sipgate.de/ sipgate Germany]
* [http://www.sipgate.at/ sipgate Austria]
* [http://www.sipgate.co.uk/ sipgate UK]
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