VoIP Settlement

["CHRIS PEABODY" <>]

I suspect that this is a harbinger of things to come!


        
washingtonpost.com
Phone Company Settles in Blocking of Internet Calls

By Jonathan Krim
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 4, 2005; Page E02

The Federal Communications Commission announced yesterday that a North 
Carolina-based telephone company agreed to pay $15,000 and to stop blocking 
the ability of consumers to use voice-over-Internet calling services instead 
of regular phone lines.

In the first action of its kind, the FCC settled with Madison River 
Communications Corp., which operates several rural phone companies throughout 
the Southeast and Midwest.

Calling based on voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) increasingly is being 
used by businesses and consumers as a substitute for traditional phone 
service. Although VoIP requires high-speed Internet access, its major 
providers offer unlimited local, long-distance, and even some international 
calling for as little as $20 a month.

Vonage Holdings Corp., one of the nation's leading Internet phone companies, 
had complained that as many as 200 customers had their service blocked by a 
Madison River subsidiary that provided its phone customers with Internet 
access.

For those customers who had disconnected their traditional phone lines and 
were relying solely on Vonage, the blocking meant they had no ability to make 
calls, even to emergency 911 services.

"The industry must adhere to certain consumer protection norms if the 
Internet is to remain an open platform for innovation," FCC Chairman Michael 
K. Powell said in a statement.

A spokesman for Madison River declined to comment, citing the company's 
pending filing for an initial public offering of its stock.

Vonage chief executive Jeffrey A. Citron praised the FCC for moving quickly.

"Blocking is akin to censorship," Citron said. Voice-over-Internet traffic is 
just like any other type of content, he said, and if an Internet provider 
were allowed to block calls, it could also censor certain types of news or 
entertainment.

"This sends a clear message . . . that interference in broadband 
communication will not be tolerated by the government," he said.

But the Madison River case may not be an isolated incident. Citron said 
Vonage is investigating incidents involving other small telephone companies 
around the country.

Christopher Libertelli, Powell's senior legal advisor, said other VoIP 
providers have brought similar complaints to the commission, and they are 
being evaluated.

According to Nuvio Corp., a Missouri-based Internet phone provider, two cable 
companies that provide Internet access appeared to be degrading its service.

Jason P. Talley, Nuvio's chief executive, said that when his customers 
complained to their cable companies, they were told that if they switched to 
the cable company's voice service, the problems would disappear.

"That raised the hair on the back of our necks," said Talley, who declined to 
name the cable companies.

Unlike outright blocking, Talley said, degrading service by introducing 
delays or dropping occasional calls is difficult to prove.

Some consumer groups, and even a few major technology corporations, have 
called on the FCC to establish strong "network neutrality" guidelines.

They say this is especially important as the current FCC pushes to reduce 
rules governing Internet services provided over phone lines. Cable firms are 
free from regulations over their Internet services, but that is being 
challenged in a case that is scheduled to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court 
on March 29.

Major cable and phone companies, while saying they have no intention of 
engaging in network discrimination, nonetheless oppose formal guidelines or 
rules.

Powell said yesterday that the proper way to handle the issue is through 
case-by-case enforcement.

© 2005 The Washington Post Company
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Chris Peabody
Director, Enterprise Network Communications
L Robert Kimball & Associates
8500 Leesburg Pike  Suite 210
Vienna, Va  22182
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