Big telcos have been
blocking calls by conference call services
that route through places such as Iowa that have low rural rates for backhaul.
Now one of them, freeconferencecall.com, is declaring victory:
As most of you know, we have been engaged in a battle with several
major telecom carriers over the last few months. While we continue to
take every precaution to safeguard our customers, several have
undoubtedly been affected by the carriers' strong-arm battle tactics.
Their decision to block incoming calls to our conferencing and
voicemail numbers interrupted thousands of users including small
businesses, non-profits, universities and entrepreneurs alike. We have
taken this issue to the courts, the government and the press, but the
pivotal difference has been the outcry and support from our customers.
The Federal Communications Commission, the State Attorney Generals and
the telecom giants heard your collective voice and agreed to stop all
call blocking. We would like to thank you for getting involved and
colleague. Together we can redefine the communications industry!
—Freeconferencecall newsletter, 27 May 2007
I don't know about redefining the communications industry, but they
do seem to have won this round.
Even the FCC agrees.
Continue reading "No Blocking, No Throttling" »
This is the funniest thing I've seen in a while.
Time-Warner CEO Richard Parsons says:
“The Googles of the world, they are the Custer of the modern world. We
are the Sioux Nation. They will lose this war if they go to war. The
notion that the new kids on the block have taken over is a false
notion.”
—
The Fighting Sioux,
by Gunnar Peterson,
1 Raindrop,
11 May 2007
Which is amusing enough.
Time-Warner thinks the cablecos and telcos are the original
natives of the Internet?
I beg to differ.
Google, Yahoo!, YouTube, etc. are much more in the spirit of the
original creators of the Internet technology and of the
people who originally commercialized and privatized the Internet.
Continue reading "Chief Parsons" »
