RSSFCC demands to know every detail about Google Voice
By Tim Conneally | Published October 9, 2009, 3:53 PM
Yesterday, the Federal Communications Commission launched yet another inquiry into the Google Voice service, this time at the behest of a bi-partisan group of congresspersons who questioned Google's ability to block calls to rural telephone exchanges.
"We understand Google has asserted Google Voice is not a 'traditional' telephone service -- despite its use of 10-digit telephone numbers and its ability to connect calls between telephones through a local exchange carrier," members of the House of Representatives wrote to the FCC on Wednesday. "Instead, Google maintains it ought to be allowed to block calls to rural telephone exchanges -- a position we find ill conceived and unfair to our rural constituents."
Today, the FCC has sent Google an inquiry asking for clarification on a number of points about Google Voice, which amount to essentially everything about the service. Specifically, the Commission wants to know: how Google Voice calls are routed, whether certain numbers are restricted, the technological methods used to restrict these numbers, and how Google informs users about these restrictions.
Further, it also asks about Google's pricing scale ("Does Google intend to charge at some point for any of these services?"), the number of invitees using the service, what exactly it means by "invitation only," and whether it plans to make the service available to the general public.
Google has until October 28 to respond to the inquiry.
Again the FCC is about to screw up a good thing. First google wants to give us free city-wide WiFi and the government shuts that down because the phone and cable companies paid off people - and now they're going to shut down the free google voice service. I've about had it with this crap!
Score: 0
|Who has more power today google or ATT lobbist?? I have to believe after looking at opensecrets.org. ATT is very mixed and Google is very dem. and we all know who is in control and needs to make changes before they are out of control.
Score: 0
|Although all google has to do is say its voice app is in beta (like all of googles apps) and thus they can set restrictions like this in the interest of "testing".
Score: 0
|It'll get out of beta within 6 months or so and will become an income generating business for Google. Either by: a. low monthly fee. b. ringback "commercials", or other form of voice/text ads all over the place. c. both (optional paid account absolves you of ads)
It costs Google at least half a cent per min for each min used on the service. So that money must be recovered somehow. Google ain't in the volunteering business.
Score: 0
|That's the price you gotta pay for being the first. Google will probably have to change the way they work a little bit by charging their own customers for calls to rural areas that cost Google 10c/min to complete. No big deal.
And if the FCC acts highly retarded, forcing Google to subsidize those calls, what we'll see is the return of "free extended local calling" areas and "low" long distance rates that'll be increased by 1-5% to subsidize those inbred b@stards.
The abuse by the "free conference calling" services in those rural areas will have to stop, though. Google won't be completely suckered... They'll insist on keeping a dynamically-generated list of #'s with unusual high # of call-mins to them (say more than 90% of rest of #'s in that rural area), and remove those abusers from the subsidized list. So dear Congressman, your retarded "constituent" that you love so much to please, who is making 5,000 talk time mins on MY DIME, can go F-- HIMSELF REAL QUICK. He's obviously making lotsa money talking to businesses all day long, or talking to girlfriends all over the US, and instead should be PAYING FOR HIS OUTGOING *AND* INCOMING CALLS or attending to his farm. hehehehe.. "Our constituents" my arse hehehehe
Score: -1
|So, the government wants Google to charge for the service? I don't see how that would help
Score: 0
|They want Google to PAY the local telcos approx 10c/min to rural areas. Once Google fights this stupidity VERY VERY HARD, that amount will probably drop to 3c/min and will include provisions to explicitly allow Google to block certain high-volume abusing numbers in those rural areas, or simply NOT PAY the telcos for any number that is called over (say) 5,000 mins per month. That'll KILL the incentive and hence will kill the backroom deals those telcos have with abusing conference/dating/hotline providers. Every dog and every loophole has its day.
Score: 0
|who's cheating on WHo? hehe
Score: -1
|Man this is like a drama
Score: 2
|