FCC's 911 Move a Trojan Horse? Critics Charge They're Engineering

FCC's 911 Move a Trojan Horse? Critics Charge They're Engineering Death of Indie VoIP Written by Karl Bode

Tomorrow the FCC will release an order that forces all independent VoIP providers to offer 911 service within 120 days. On the surface the move seems like a simple way of ensuring public safety, but critics believe it's really an incumbent engineered attempt to crush upstart VoIP competitors.

There's been a scattered number of deaths blamed on VoIP -- whether or not the VoIP provider was actually culpable

hasn't mattered to some news outlets. Vonage has also been sued for "failing to inform users they need to activate their 911 service" before it will work; apparently this welcome screen customer sees was simply too mystical.

Such concerns, valid or not, have resulted in a growing cry for action on the federal level. So the FCC issues a ruling that requires upstart VoIP providers to provide 911 service.

An honest move to ensure public safety, right?

Not according to the TechKnow Times

:

"They (indie VoIP providers) were in the market space first, they have far better offerings, and much better pricing as well. So how to kill them? Simple. Force them to have to buy a service where the traditional telephone companies can set the price. And what is one thing that the traditional phone companies still pretty much have a monopoly on? The provision of 911 service."

Jeff Pulver, co-founder of Vonage and the man behind Free-World dial-up, hasn't been optimistic either. An entry

to his blog questioning the FCC move was apparently met with harsh criticism. From a follow up post :

"I have had much internal debate over how to approach what we believe the FCC is doing to the industry this week, and, frankly, I felt compelled to speak up, aware of the potential political consequences. I have deep concerns that the FCC is going to drastically overreach (like swatting a fly with a nuclear bomb) and bring down the VoIP industry."

Pulver worries that "2005 may go down in history as the time we saw both the rise and fall of the unaffiliated VoIP service provider." Evident by discussion in our VoIP forum

, others are also worried that the move is an opening salvo in the slaughter of indie providers by a well lobbied FCC.

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