FCC Storm Brewing Around "Traffic Pumping"

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "David Frankel" <dfrankel () zipdx com>
Date: September 22, 2009 3:51:55 PM EDT
To: <dave () farber net>
Subject: FCC Storm Brewing Around "Traffic Pumping"

Dave,

You may have seen today’s WSJ article about GoogleVoice and the  
scrutiny it is starting to receive.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125357862855329543.html

One of the aspects of the service noted in the article is that  
GoogleVoice is accused of blocking access to “free conference call”  
services. Instead of charging the host for a conference call, these  
services use inflated “access charges” to force long-distance  
companies to pay for the connection. The charges are inflated by  
virtue of the fact that the phone numbers they use are located in  
rural places like Iowa, which are typically entitled to higher access  
rates. These charges get passed through to Google, and of course  
Google doesn’t want to pay them.

Yesterday, The Iowa Utilities Board issued their ruling in an  
investigation involving these free-conferencing “traffic pumpers.” It  
is available here:
https://efs.iowa.gov/efiling/groups/external/documents/docket/023026.pdf

The IUB only regulates in-state calls; it’s up to the FCC to handle  
interstate calls. But the IUB’s ruling is a scathing indictment of the  
carriers that serve the free conferencers, concluding that their  
imposition of access charges was improper and in fact directing that  
the fees be refunded.

So you might sympathize with GoogleVoice; they don’t want to be  
fleeced any more than anybody else.

What I find interesting, though, is that in their own way, GoogleVoice  
is taking advantage of access charges. When one of their customers  
advertises their GoogleVoice number and has their colleagues call it,  
now GoogleVoice is the one collecting access charges. They may not be  
as inflated as the rural numbers that the free-conferencers use, but  
they (and their carrier partners) are collecting access charges that  
in many cases are higher than what would have otherwise been assessed.

Hopefully the FCC will finally step in and (following Iowa’s lead) put  
a stop to the madness.

David Frankel
ZipDX® LLC
Los Gatos CA USA
Tel: 1-800-FRANKEL





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