The Federal Communications Commission is looking into whether Comcast, the nation’s largest cable television operator, is discriminating against VoIP operators whose call traffic transits Comcast’s network. In a letter to Comcast (PDF), the agency has asked the company to clarify discrepancies between Comcast’s filings with the FCC describing its broadband management practices and the Comcast’s actual advertised service.
Comcast describes its own VoIP product offering as riding on a separate facilities-based IP phone service that isn’t subject to Comcast’s network management policies. However, Comcast’s online support documents and FAQs indicate third-party VoIP services are subject to the same network management policies as any other Internet traffic and, therefore, may sound “choppy.”
