The EU Getting Involved With VOIP Debate
Joe M posted in opinion on April 11th, 2009
According to this article, the European Union is getting involved in the debate over VOIP on cell phones.
Earlier this week, I talked about AT&T being unhappy about a Skype app availability on the iPhone.
As it turns out, the EU may require that carriers leave VOIP traffic alone, and free from discrimination.
This is part of the whole Net Neutrality debate.
The debate stems from a question of the rights of the consumer, versus the rights of a carrier or provider.
If a carrier or provider offers a service, such as phone service, should they be allowed to block traffic that could impose on their ability to earn a profit in that market?
Looking at it from a different perspective…
Think about the following scenario:
A carrier or provider has a search website with paid advertisements.
The carrier examines their logs, and discovers that none of their customers use their search site.
As a result, they block traffic going to other search websites, and redirect the customers to their search site.
It’s easy to see that this could twist into a heated debate, quickly.
In the end, competition is an important element to examine during the debate.
If a carrier discriminates against traffic for the sole purpose of increasing their own profits, is it anti-competitive?
In my opinion, competition drives innovation and changes in the market.
If a mousetrap is not selling because it no longer works as cost effectively as newer mousetraps, it drives the producer back to the drawing board… to design a new mousetrap.
The EU is expressing their reaction.
Will the legislature and judicial branches in the United States follow suit?
I have said it before…
Microsoft Windows Vista was what it was.
Windows 7 looks more promising, only because of the competition from other operating systems, and the fact that consumers (should) drive the final decision. Luckily for them, the courts did not get involved (much).
The same thing should happen in the VOIP and Net Neutrality debate.
The sad part is, when a provider becomes so large, they can dictate the standards and rules for what allowances the consumers will be afforded.
Public opinion is not really a concern, in some instances.
The idealist in me, says that the carriers and providers should act benevolently, without any government getting involved. As I said, that’s the idealist in me, though.
April 11th, 2009 at 5:05 am
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May 20th, 2010 at 12:20 am
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May 20th, 2010 at 11:50 pm
been looking for this. thanks.
June 10th, 2010 at 4:54 pm
my sister is very good in installing VOIP equipments and i really admire her for that.~,’
August 2nd, 2010 at 4:28 pm
my friend is an expert in VOIP setup and i was his apprentice once;’-