The FCC and VoIP Regulatory Measures: The Changing Face in the American Telecom - San Diego Technology
The FCC and VoIP Regulatory Measures: The Changing Face in the American Telecom - San Diego Technology
It has grown to be apparent recently the FCC may modify their standards for regulating telecom services in the US based, with VoIP because the rising star from the industry. Up until recently, the FCC didn't regulate VoIP like a telecom service because VoIP straddles the fishing line between a telecom service plus an information service (such as the Internet, as VoIP is, in the end, an Internet service). Whatever decision the FCC reaches, consumers will ultimately begin to notice adjustments to the ways their telecom services are taxed and charged.
A Changing Marketplace: An Aging Infrastructure and IP Innovations
'VoIP', or Voice over Internet Protocol, can be a general name for the technology behind Internet telephone service. With VoIP, providers use Internet Protocol (IP) addresses to relay packets of digital voice data between subscribers, much just like analog telephone service providers use copper telephone lines to relay analog voice data between subscribers via telephone numbers.
Original VoIP telephone service technology was quite simple, and could only be used between 2 different people using the same service with softphone programs on his or her PCs. Today, subscribers will use hosted VoIP from any phone, smartphone, computer, or tablet to call any phone number, whether that number is hosted by an IP or perhaps an analog supplier. Many people have switched to VoIP service for his or her landline voice service in their homes and offices because VoIP is significantly cheaper than traditional voice service with a traditional provider, around $5/month which has a residential VoIP provider, and around $10 to $20/month per extension with a business VoIP provider.
The VoIP industry continues to grow very quickly from the primitive early form. VoIP is not just cheaper for subscribers to purchase, it is also cheaper for telecoms to provide. The analog telephone network (the PSTN, or public switched telephone network), is constant necessity of expensive repair, and as a result, many telecom providers have replaced high of their internal systems with a VoIP infrastructure.
As an effect, the FCC has has determined the VoIP industry has become too large and prevalent to go on growing unchecked. But the move towards legislative measures to control VoIP has gotten some mixed responses from service providers and critics.
Where does the telephone start as well as the computer stop?
Firstly, the FCC must decide if they will regulate VoIP being a telecom service or just as one information service. If VoIP is ruled an info service, the FCC continue to leave it largely unregulated.
However, when they do start to regulate VoIP as being a telecom service, VoIP providers will end up subject to all with the same laws and protocols that regulate analog telephony providers. For many with the telecom giants, VoIP service has been a sort of work around, and several were using VoIP systems for the large percentage of their customers, though their customers might not have even recognized that their service was technically VoIP.
Accordingly, many from the bigger telecom providers resist the proposal to improve the way VoIP is regulated. If VoIP were regulated as being a telecom, VoIP providers would have to satisfy regulatory measures that guarantee that VoIP is reliable and dependable in emergency situations, which E911 (Enhanced 911, the 911 service particular to VoIP providers) is the same as its analog counterpart.
Regulation would also protect smaller providers against unfair competition using the bigger telecoms, and would be sure that all VoIP providers offer service to all customers with equal preference (which is, clear of discriminatory policies). Finally, regulation would guarantee that telecom providers result in the transition to VoIP services easy and seamless for all those customers.
So what is going to change in the subsequent five years?
These new regulatory measures may slightly get a new price that customers pay for telephone service. VoIP can be a cheap technology, so customers will more than likely save money on the phone bills after they switch to VoIP systems, but there may also be some new expenses associated with service as providers need to pay regulatory fees and taxes associated using the status of telecom service. For most small providers, these fees will probably be negligible, but also for some with the bigger telecoms, fees could become prohibitive, or otherwise inconvenient.
For many analysts, the eventual move away from PSTN services and towards VoIP services was inevitable. In fact, most are pushing for telecoms to produce efforts towards getting the PSTN completely disabled by goal year 2018. If telecoms really do meet that goal, then customer reliance on VoIP (in addition to cellular service) will be total.
There are some who still resist the move towards total VoIP systems. For example, some legislators in Kentucky recently tried to create it mandatory for area telecoms to continue to offer PSTN service to all customers. Legislators in Kentucky mainly worried that elderly residents could be unequipped or unable to successfully get VoIP service. However, such fears are often unfounded. With VoIP changing in status to some regulated telecom service, laws stipulate that providers will increase the risk for transition universally seamless.
However, news of the changes (or potential changes) haven't caused high of a stir using the general public. There may shortly be massive changes on the American communications system, but many people are unaware because with the highly technical nature of the changes. However, customers will begin to notice phone bills that, in one way or any other, reflect an evolving telecom system prior to the end on this year.
Rachel Greenberg writes about technology, telecom news, VoIP telephone service, and business improvement means of VoIPReview.org.
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