FCC Asserts Role as Internet Phone Regulator
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The Federal Communications Commission said yesterday that the federal government, not states, has the authority to regulate phone service provided over the Internet.
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A BILL seeking to classify phone calls made over the Internet separately from conventional voice calls has been filed in Congress.
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U.S. airline travelers may be able  to use their mobile telephones as well as get high-speed  Internet service while in the air under plans launched by U.S.  communications regulators on Wednesday.
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The FCC uses fines to get its message across.
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(InfoWorld) - Hundreds of groups and individual Internet users sounded off to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC)Â on net neutrality in comments filed Monday, the deadline for responding to the agency's inquiry into the proposed regulation. Individual Internet users, trade groups, and advocacy organizations filed about 670 comments about net neutrality rules with the FCC Monday. Individuals and organizations have submitted nearly 29,000 comments on net neutrality since the FCC opened its inquiry in late March. Net neutrality advocates want the FCC or the U.S. Congress to prohibit large broadband providers like AT&TÂ and Comcast from blocking or slowing Web content from competitors. Many of the comments Monday came from individual Internet users who asked the FCC to protect them against new fees that they fear broadband providers could charge Web content providers. "Keep the corporations off our rights," wrote Internet user Jack McFarley of Washington state in an e-mail that was part form letter. "Net neutrality is essential to free speech, equal opportunity, and economic innovation in America." Bonnie Bennett of California seemed to take a more individual approach in her e-mail to the FCC. "Free, unlimited access to the Internet is the modern-day version of how to educate the citizenry of a well-functioning democracy," she wrote. "Big companies and global corporations care a lot about profits and stockholders but not much about educating citizens." A technology director of a school in Mississippi said net neutrality rules would protect his students' ability to access the information they need. "The importance of the Internet is increasing each month," wrote David Scovic. "Many small innovative Web sites that are vital to our teaching would be affected by a no vote [on net neutrality rules]." Net neutrality advocates have argued that such rules are needed after decisions by the FCC and the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005 allowed broadband providers to stop sharing their networks with competing Internet service providers. The debate over net neutrality heated up after Ed Whitacre, former CEO at AT&T, complained in BusinessWeek in late 2005 about potential competition from Internet companies, saying he wasn't going to let them "use my pipes free." In March, the FCC launched an inquiry to examine net neutrality proposals, looking at whether broadband providers charge different prices for different speeds and how consumers are affected by the ways broadband providers manage their networks. Hands Off the Internet, an advocacy group representing AT&T, Alcatel-Lucent, the American Conservative Union and other organizations, said in its filing that net neutrality advocates haven't shown the need for new regulations. Broadband providers aren't blocking competing content, the group said. "There is no current or anticipated content discrimination or service degradation justifying new regulations by the commission," wrote Christopher Wolf, cochairman of Hands Off the Internet. "Moreover, regulation could well thwart Internet growth and make consumer access unfairly expensive." The Computer & Communications Industry Association, a trade group representing Microsoft, Google, and other tech vendors, said a net neutrality rule is needed because there's little competition among broadband providers. Broadband providers "insult the commission's expertise by summarily proclaiming the broadband access market competitive without any specific evidence of competition," the group said.
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Agency seeks public comment as first step in deciding how far Internet service providers can go before they transcend "reasonable network management" and run afoul of federal policy.
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The telecoms watchdog Ofcom is considering how to regulate firms that let you make calls via the net.
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Internet telephone services on  Tuesday were insulated from many state regulations by U.S.  communications officials, a boon for upstart Vonage Holdings  Corp. and others aggressively pushing the new service.
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The FCC has ruled against state regulation of voice-over-IP phone services, saying that disparate state regulations would slow their rollout.
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The nation&#39;s top telephone regulators are widely expected to decide on Tuesday to further deregulate Internet phone services from Vonage Holdings and others.
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The regulator for the UKâs communications industries today set out details of its approach to new voice services such as Internet Telephony.
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InfoWorld - Major mobile voice and data carriers in the United States have pledged to open their networks to outside handsets and applications, but regulators and customers need to be vigilant to make sure those promises are fulfilled, one member of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission said.
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The Internet phone service providers try to win over consumers who now have a host of options when it comes to making calls.
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U.S. regulators ruled Tuesday that providers of Internet-based phone call services fall under the jurisdiction of the federal government, exempting them from some key regulation by states.
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U.S. regulators open a public comment period on a plan to wire broadband and VoIP systems for law enforcement surveillance.
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BOSTON -- It&#39;s likely the federal government will be handing down a set of rules for voice communication over the Internet. FCC Chairman Michael Powell said he will seek a broad set of rules to cover what
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The Federal Communications Commission voted to bar state regulators from exercising key jurisdiction over VoIP. By W. David Gardner.