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FCC miffed that Comcast is interfering with VoIP

by on20 January 2009

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Broken promises


The US
Federal Communications Commission has penned a stiff letter to Comcast over its system which gives its own Voice over IP service customers "special treatment" compared to competitors who use the ISP's network.

The Watchdog has asked Comcast to provide "a detailed justification for Comcast's disparate treatment of its own VoIP service as compared to that offered by other VoIP providers on its network." Comcast has been in the FCC's bad books since it started to throttle the traffic of P2P users.  But when it came to look at the cable outfit's description of its throttling system it became alarmed at something else it spotted.

Apparently during times of actual network congestion Comcast will switch on its throttling software. Its rivals who are using its networks might experience slower webpage downloads, peer-to-peer upload takes somewhat longer to complete, or a VoIP call sounds choppy. However Comcast's own VoIP product, Comcast Digital Voice (CDV) apparently has a "separate facilities-based IP phone service" and "is not affected" by throttling software. The FCC wants to know how this is possible.

If Digital Voice is different then it could conceivably be classified as "the privileged transmission of information of the customer's choosing across Comcast's network".  And if it is a separate  "telecommunications" then it will have to pay the same fees as a normal telco.

At the moment Comcast's Digital Voice is categorised as an 'information service' and not charged.
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