Board of Public Utilities -

Posts: 13 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Jan 23, 2007 Posts: 13

Just a thought..

If the Board of Public Utilities is there to assist you with issues you can't always resolve relating to your Telco and Cable company, and in turn both Telco and Cable companies provide VoIP services....

Then why is it not possible that if I could call up the BOPU on my cable company, why is it that Vonage isn't governed by this as well?

I know - Federal this, additional taxes on that... etc. etc. opening up a whole can of worms. But given this company isn't going to be operating in the black anytime soon to get them some budget to fix things like this - maybe it's my time to move on.

This morning's issue with it being down was unacceptable and not being able to get someone on Support that has a clue is just beyond acceptable.

Posts: 1424 · Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 11:34 pm Post subject:

In the past telecommunication was sold as a combination of physical transport medium and service, telephone over telephone wires and television over cable.

With the breakup of AT&T certain reregulation around local phone service occurred that allowed CLECs to sell phone service over the existing ILECs phone lines, however the service was still directly tied to specific hardware.

State regulatory boards have been able to regulate telecommunication companies because of the necessity for them to operate with a physical presence in the state. Local governments have had the ability to negotiate television contracts with cable companies because the local governments had to grant right-of-way for the physical cables.

With VoIP and now IPTV the marriage of physical transport medium to service has been dissolved. The leaves these virtual services in a state of quasi-regulation. Over the past few years we have seen an increase in regulation of these carriers. It is important to note that elements of VoIP services from companies like Vonage that are typically purchased from CLECs are still regulated, this relates to areas like number portability.

VoIP has been divided based on whether connection to the PSTN network is provided as part of the fixed cost or not. Fixed, as opposed to nomadic services, were required to implement an E911 solution. States have begun regulating all telecommunications companies equally regardless of the operation of physical assets in the State, turning to mechanisms such as television advertising to establish a companies presence in the state.

So while the operation of Vonage with regard to regulation may seem like the wild west to you, for many who have had service with the company for year, the increased regulation and therefore increased taxation is not necessarily viewed as a good thing.