Viber says blocked by Vodafone DPI

Vodafone Netherlands is blocking mobile VoIP service Viber, using a form of deep packet inspection, the company claims.
Viber CEO Talmon Marco said the company believes that the DPI analyzes all data sent and received by Vodafone users and then systematically dumps a high percentage of data packets in order to create a sense that the service is not working properly, confusing users into thinking that Viber is at fault. This is evident by the repeated attempts made by Vodafone's customers to call other users using Viber and attempts by customers on other networks to call Vodafone users, he said. Viber sees the filtering policy as equal to censorship seen in countries like Libya and Iran. Marco said operator policies like this are limiting customer access to services not traditionally available on mobile networks, such as HD voice, confirmation that the other party is ringing and instant message delivery confirmation. Future versions of Viber will offer other new features that are not available as part of GSM, and the company also plans to soon launch an Android version of its app, he said. Vodafone confirmed that it does block certain services for basic subscriptions. The service becomes available for users taking an extra data bundle, one of its so-called Blox. The service is therefore not being blocked, according to the operator. The claim by Viber comes amid discussions in the Netherlands on legislation to ensure net neutrality, prohibiting operators from discriminating amongst different types of data services. The growing use of data apps for free messaging and calls also prompted the recent profit warning by Dutch market leader KPN, which said services such as WhatsApp are eating into its mobile SMS and voice revenues.