One VoIP CEO urged the FCC to look at VoIP and not to duck responsibility based on an old saying.

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Managing Editor [November 23, 2005]

Jason Talley, CEO of Overland Park, Kan.-based Nuvio has always been outspoken at ISPCON, which is why we make sure we never miss him. A year ago, he pointed out that there should be no problem wiretapping VoIP—that if Congress gave VoIP providers immunity from lawsuits, the providers could send a copy of every VoIP conversation in America to the Department of Justice offices in Washington, D.C., or to any government facility capable of handling the traffic.

This year he spoke about regulation in an early morning session, The 10 Biggest Policy Issues Facing Your Business and What to Do About Them.

He was particularly pessimistic about the current FCC Chairman, Kevin Martin. "When we first met with Kevin Martin," Talley said, "he told my engineer that there shouldn't be any talk about Internet neutrality because the internet's like cable TV, and the ISP controls its use. I prevented my engineer from strangling him."

Ducking responsibility
The attitude of the FCC is summed up in the saying, "if it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it is a duck," which in this case means that FCC can take the easy way out by regulating VoIP as if it's exactly the same as the PSTN.

Talley was also scornful of what he called "the ugly red stickers law" which forces VoIP providers to inform customers that their new phone is not 911-capable.

Powerful interests opposed the law and helped slow its implementation. "The cable providers were caught unaware and made a lot of noise, which is why we saw the most recent extension," he said. "However, they will be compliant by November 28, 2005, the next deadline, and so the powerful lobbies will not be in favor of another extension."

The law demonstrates the FCC's total ignorance of VoIP. "Many VoIP services are nomadic," said Talley. "You can take your VoIP phone with you but there's no mechanism for asking a VoIP phone where it is. November 28, 2005, will be a day of reckoning for the industry. We're being told to develop or disconnect our users. Of course, to do this, we need the 911 system, which is owned and maintained by the RBOCs. The FCC's policy is that of course the RBOCs will help us, right?"

He said that, by the time of the deadline, he expects to have access to 911 facilities covering 60 to 70 percent of the U.S. population, but that rural areas may suddenly find themselves without any VoIP.

VoIP and CALEA
Talley said that the VoIP has 18 months to educate the DoJ about how VoIP can make the United States safer.

Port blocking
"Certain ISPs don't want to transport VoIP," said Talley. The FCC wants to pretend to act.

"Their actions so far are like posting corporate goals in the lunch room. Either they have the power to intervene or they don't."

The Madison River Case ended in a Consent Decree [.doc] in which the ILEC agreed to pay a $15,000 fine and open its ports to VoIP, and the FCC agreed to end the investigation.

"The FCC is paralyzed with 2 Republicans and 2 Democrats. We cannot fight legal battles for access one customer at a time. We believe that the FCC needs to establish principles that will maintain VoIP innovation."

Asked about access charges, Talley replied, "we pay access charges to terminate all of our traffic. If you're not paying today, you could be liable in the future, and if you're not paying under dispute, the RBOC will come after you. It's beside the point, because you have to do more than compete on price to beat the phone company."

— End