FCC releases Net phone guidelines

The Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday released guidelines that it will use to decide what rules, if any, will govern companies providing Internet telephone services.

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The guidelines consist mainly of a list of questions on which the FCC is seeking public comment. The FCC has already ruled that phone calls that never touch the public switched telephone network, so-called pure voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), should not be regulated.

 Peekaboo! Cisco adds video functions to Net phoning technology.

The FCC appears to have left room for a varied set of opinions. The agency will use the public comments to determine whether calls that travel over the Internet and the traditional phone network should be regulated, a key Internet phone regulatory issue.

"The changes wrought by the rise of IP-enabled communications appear to be revolutionary," the FCC wrote in the 96?page document.

VoIP is a technology for making phones calls that use the Internet Protocol, the world's most popular method for sending data from one computer to another. After years of overpromising and underdelivering, VoIP is generating significant interest among telecom carriers, corporations and consumers, thanks to significant improvements in quality of service.

		News.Commentary Heads up VoIP--regulation incoming It's clear that the technology will not completely escape regulation or taxation.

VoIP is already being embraced by carriers as a way to cut traffic costs on international and long-distance calls, and it is expected to eventually replace the public switched telephone network, as big phone companies convert to IP-based fiber-optic networks. Currently, about 11 percent of all voice traffic is classified as VoIP, although less than 1 percent of those calls are initiated on a VoIP phone.

Stay out of it..

Stay out of it!

Don't bring your fees and laws to the one place I feel free to feel and say.

VoIP - a long time in coming

We recently installed VoIP in our home on a Motorola cable modem, using Cablevision on Long Island. The only complaint is that the receiver volume is almost too loud. This is a neglible "problem".

Our VoIP telephone number is unlisted (by default). We can receive and make phone calls to people on the regular telephone network.

Our cable modem is protected by "UPS" so if main power is lost, our phone service continues uninterrupted.

I hope that regulations don't hobble this service, or make it too expensive to afford in the future.

VoIP

Looking for information on way ahead. Data enable voice systems or voice enable data systems. Pro/Cons Movement in industry.

Pass on the cost savings

As a network design engineer who deploys this technology, VOIP should be cheaper for consumers because it is cheaper for the phone companies.

- More simultaneous calls can be placed over the same amount of bandwidth without a noticable delay in voice call quality.
- carriers are able to have one infrastructure to support both voice and data.
- VOIP equipment is cheaper to maintain because the same guys who work on the data network can work on the voice network, which means less staffing requirements.

In all fairness, voice companies must re-train employees and buy new equipment - so why not give them tax incentives to deploy this technology and, in a few years, pass on the savings to consumers.