Comments on: FCC Google Voice Probe: Ask, AT&T, and It Shall Be Given Unto You

By: technologiez

technologiez — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 02:59:33 +0000

Google Voice is free, sure, and like I said, it’s been a personal help when I had an issue that rendered my phone unusable. However, there’s a difference between accepting an app that does a pretty good job and pushing a company to make a better product that will ultimately benefit you more. Consumers do that all the time with feedback, and most software-makers listen. It’s to everyone’s advantage.

That’s why I suggested that Google should introduce tiered services, so that those who want to stick with the free service can do so, and those who want to upgrade to higher quality can also go that route. More choices are better in my book.
http://technologiez.net

By: To War, To War, Google’s Going to War « The Media Mash-Up

To War, To War, Google’s Going to War « The Media Mash-Up — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 19:50:46 +0000

[...] To War, To War, Google’s Going to War By Elizabeth Sheer Google is getting probed by another government body and it’s not the courts looking into the Google Books Project. Well, if they want to take over every aspect of our lives, they have to expect a little push-back. This week, it’s the FCC that’s looking into the Google voice service. A few weeks ago, AT&T asked the FCC to investigate Google voice, since the call-forwarding service, it claimed, was violating federal rules that stated that all calls had to come through phone companies. AT&T also complained that Google was blocking access to certain remote locations. Google has admitted that it blocks access to some lines because they are sex lines, which have high access fees. But this week, AT&T is ramping up the bile, attacking the company as a whole, and also claiming that some of the sex lines to which Google is blocking access are a church, an orchard, a convent of Benedictine nuns, and an eye doctor. And how, asks AT&T, can Google call itself a proponent of net neutrality when its size gives it “gatekeeper control” over the Internet itself? The FCC has sent a letter of inquiry to Google, giving it until October 28 to file a formal response. But the company lost no time in firing back a salvo. Rick Whit, the company’s telecom and media counsel said on its Public Policy blog, “AT&T apparently now wants web applications–from Skype to Google Voice–to be treated the same way as traditional phone services. Their approach is what a former FCC chairman has called ‘regulatory capitalism,’ the practice of using regulation to block or slow down innovation. And despite AT&T’s lobbying efforts, this issue has nothing to do with network neutrality or rural America. This is about outdated carrier compensation rules that are fundamentally broken and in need of repair by the FCC.” Reports from Tech Crunch and AllThingsD [...]

By: ricky Gill

ricky Gill — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 17:40:14 +0000

cant wait for this to come to the UK!

By: Lloyd Budd

Lloyd Budd — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 02:26:43 +0000

A little Freudian typo in the quote, or the PDF has also been updated and corrected:

the FCC wrote. “We are interested in gathering facts that can provide a more compete understanding of this situation.”

Should be “more complete”

By: Terry Nenni

Terry Nenni — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 01:22:32 +0000

Google, you and every other telecom hater can call Google voice what you want, but if it allows you to bypass the traditional phone network (which reportedly it does) then it has the potential to diminish telecom revenues. VOIP has destroyed the traditional landline phone service. As Google, FCC, and Bloggers force the Telecoms to open their wireless networks, the network moochers should at least abide by the same rules forced on the network owners.

By: TechKive » Blog Archive » FCC Google Voice Probe: Ask, AT&T, and It Shall Be Given Unto You [Digital Daily]

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 01:18:22 +0000

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