That AT&T, Google-Voice story is back with a bang. If you guys remember few days back AT&T had written to FCC & cried out that Google-Voice breaks telecom laws by blocking calls in some rural areas. Now, FCC has questioned (letter copy attached below) Google asking the reason for the same.
Google has responded to this in their blog and its reason for call blocking to some local phone carrier(in rural areas) is
“Not only do they charge exorbitant termination rates for calls, but they also partner with adult sex chat lines and “free” conference calling centers to drive high volumes of traffic. This practice has been called “access stimulation” or “traffic pumping”… Google Voice is a free application and we want to keep it that way for all our users — which we could not afford to do if we paid these ludicrously high charges.”
Google also says that AT&T is a hypocrite – AT&T (not free like GV) itself use to block the same rural calls for similar reasons until the FCC stepped in 2007.
Who will get FCC’s love? AT&T or Google…? Tough one for FCC …
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Follow-Up
Response of Google in its blog :
Google Public Policy Blog : Sex, conference calls, and outdated FCC rules by Richard Whitt
Hmm… Neutral
CNET News : FCC looking into Google Voice and rural calls by Tom Krazit
TechCrunch : AT&T Complaint Prompts FCC Letter To Google Inquiring About Google Voice by Jason Kincaid
TechCrunch : Google Responds To FCC Inquiry By Highlighting AT&T’s Hypocrisy by Leena Rao
Cheers! Thumbs Up (to Google)
DailyFinance : AT&T vs. Google Voice: Sex, money, the feds, and your phone bill by Sam Gustin
VoIP Watch : A Waste Of Money, Time and Words by Andy Abramson
Image Credit – OUR-JUSTICE LEAGUE









October 11th, 2009 at 11:21 am
Google-FCC-AT&T Caught In A Love Triangle! Reason? Sex Lines http://is.gd/4cUhk
October 21st, 2009 at 5:40 am
ATT's market penetration has an STD. Google Voice won't touch that with a 10 foot…uh, they just don't. http://tr.im/CvcW att->#penetrode