Ubuntu
skype package

Is Skype blocked in UAE

Asked by DesertJim

Just upgraded to 11.04 32 bit with clean install. P4 dual core 3.06 Ghz with 2 GB Ram
When reloading my applications from Ubuntu Software Centre all have downloaded except skype which on pressing the install button has an error pop up which says "Failed to download package files" "Check your internet connection"
Everything else has downloaded OK so I wonder if there is a block on skype being downloaded to the UAE as VOIP is not legal here or there is something I need to do with the repositories.

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#1

http://ubuntuguide.net/install-skype-on-ubuntu-11-04-natty-narwhal-3264-bit

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DesertJim (jcrmassey) said : 		#2

Thanks for your quick response, I follow all the steps until I did wget, here is the problem

Resolving www.skype.com... 78.141.177.7
Connecting to www.skype.com|78.141.177.7|:80...

www.skype.com is blocked by the UAE firewall as it contains material which is against the culture of the country. i.e. the two telcos, etisalat and du, make too much money out of international calls to allow people here to get access to skype. They of course deny this and say it is a TRA issue (which is owned by the same people that own etisalat and Du) I need a download site that does not have the www.skype.com URL.

At least its not Ubuntu/Canonical blocking it.
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----- Original Message -----
From: actionparsnip

Your question #157146 on Ubuntu changed: https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/157146 Status: Open => Answered

actionparsnip proposed the following answer: http://ubuntuguide.net/install-skype-on-ubuntu-11-04-natty- narwhal-3264-bit

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#3

What is the output of:

lsb_release -a; uname -a

Thanks

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DesertJim (jcrmassey) said : 		#4

jim@venus:~$ lsb_release -a; uname -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 11.04
Release: 11.04
Codename: natty
Linux venus 2.6.38-8-generic #42-Ubuntu SMP Mon Apr 11 03:31:50 UTC 2011 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
jim@venus:~$

I have found a way around this, which is a UAE firewall on the lookout for www.skype.com ! and Skype is now installed and running!

I put

deb http://download.skype.com/linux/repos/debian/ stable non-free

in as a repository from Settings in Update Manager, when it rebuilt the trees it gave all sorts of warnings like "403 forbidden" which I ignored and then downloaded aptitude and ran

sudo aptitude update

sudo aptitude install skype

and it did, now working fine. I of course only use this facility internally in my house and do not wish to condone or support the use of Skype externally.

Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#5

I was gonna give you a link to my dropbox and give the file. Glad you got the gold :)