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Tag Archive: voice over internet protocol

Bush Signs Internet Tax Moratorium

“The law extends a ban on Internet taxes that expired on November 1, 2003. The original version of the Internet Tax Nondiscrimination Act, passed by the House of Representatives in September 2003, would have permanently extended a five-year congressional moratorium on taxes unique to the Internet, including taxes on access and bandwidth.

But the bill was held up in the Senate over concerns that it would allow telecommunications carriers to avoid taxes on traditional telephone service as they move traffic to Voice over Internet Protocol services. A compromise version crafted in the Senate and approved by the House last month allows states and cities to continue to collect taxes on telephone services, even if the calls are made over the Internet. ”

Best Buy To Sell AT&T CallVantage

AT&T today announced that Best Buy will be among the first national retailers to offer AT&T’s residential Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone service, AT&T CallVantage Service, in its 628 stores nationwide and online at http://www.bestbuy.com/.

AT&T CallVantage Service will be available in Best Buy stores nationwide beginning this fall.   Under terms of the agreement, Best Buy and AT&T will promote AT&T CallVantage Service through in-store marketing as well as print, broadcast and online advertising.

FCC Allows VoiP Taps

“By a vote of 5-0, the FCC said “voice over Internet protocol,” or VoIP, providers should be subject to the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, which ensures that law enforcers will be able to keep up with changing communications technologies.

VoIP service is likely to replace much traditional phone service over the coming years, the commission said. “

This really should come as no surprise, its only the natural progression of the VoiP industry. We even heard that the U.S. can tap into Microsoft’s Xbox Live service where they believe some terrorist activity is being held. You are not alone…

Commentary: The Plot To Disconnect VoIP

“Will May 19, 2004, be a date that lives in infamy for proponents of VoIP?

Two ominous developments took place on that day. The New York Public Service Commission declared Vonage to be a regulated telephone company. Meanwhile, several key companies pulled out of the inter-carrier compensation forum (ICF) that is attempting to negotiate a replacement for the outmoded access-charge regime. That brought the effort to the brink of collapse. These seemingly unrelated events illustrate the failings of the Federal Communications Commission’s current piecemeal approach to VoIP, or voice over Internet Protocol. Though no one in Washington seems to want to make VoIP subject to legacy telecommunications regulations, we may be drifting in exactly that direction.”

Time Warner Cable Offers VoIP Service

Digital Phone Service, as Time Warner Cable is calling their voice over Internet-protocol offering, is now available for current subscribers for a three-month trial rate of $19.95 per month. The cost of the service becomes $39.95 for subscribers of both cable and high-speed Internet, or $44.95 for subscribers of either cable or Internet after the three-month trial is over.

Time Warner Cable’s Digital Phone Service offers the following:

  • Unlimited local and nationwide calling throughout the United States.
  • Call Waiting
  • Caller ID
  • Call Waiting ID

States, Feds Headed For VoIP Clash

By pushing ahead with regulation now, states are facing long battles in court with VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol)service providers that believe existing laws don’t apply to them; and later with the Federal Communications Commission, which is expected in the next few months to leave states with very little, if any, regulatory power over Net-based phone calls.

Though small VoIP start-ups like Vonage are moving forward unfazed by the unsettled legal and regulatory picture, larger providers that want to play good corporate citizen might be forced to wait the months or years for the regulatory and legal picture to come into focus, industry sources say.

New York Classifies Vonage As Phone Company

In a statement announcing its decision, the agency sought to soften the blow, saying that it nevertheless hoped to apply “only minimal regulations to ensure that it does not interfere with the rapid, widespread deployment of new technologies.”

New York is the latest state to weigh in on regulation of so-called voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services, a hot-button policy issue that has some local officials worried about potential tax losses as the technology grows in popularity.

Read the whole story at CNET News.com.

AT&T Teams Up With Sprint To Offer Wireless

From AT&T’s press release:

AT&T Corp. today announced that it has taken its first step in re-entering the wireless market by reaching an agreement with Sprint that will allow AT&T to sell AT&T-branded wireless service to its over 30 million business and consumer customers.  As a result of the five-year agreement, AT&T expects to significantly expand the wireless services it is currently testing in select U.S. markets with hopes of a launch later this year.

Vonage Use Tops 155,000 Subscribers

In an announcement stating it was lowering the cost of it’s highest-priced residential plan, Vonage also said that its subscriber base has exceeded 155,000 users. The company had announced it reached the 100,000 subscriber mark in February of 2004.

Pricing for the company’s ”Premium Unlimited” plan is now $29.99, a $5 reduction in the price of the plan.

Edison, N.J. based Vonage is the nation’s leading provider of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communications and provides plans for both residential and business users.

Designtechnica reviewed the service in December 2003 and January 2004 and rated it a 9 out of 10. Click here to read that review.

Wi-Fi Phones To Cut Costs

Wi-Fi phones employ a technology known as Voice over Internet Protocol, which translates conversations into packets of data that are sent over the Internet, instead of the old, circuit-switched phone system, for part of their journey.

The technology slashes the traditional notion of “long distance”

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