[February 15, 2005]

The Battle of the VoIP-Call-Blocking Telecoms: Round One

BY JOHANNE TORRES

Internet-based telephone service provider Vonage Holdings Corp. claims to have discovered that some of its phone calls are being blocked by an undisclosed major telecom, causing a reported disruption of service for over two hundred customers.

The VoIP provider reportedly filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) about this issue this week. According to a Reuters news report, Vonage has told FCC officials that it has evidence an Internet service provider owned by a telephone company has been blocking its service. "We have seen an instance of port blocking that was of grave concern to us," Vonage’s spokeswoman Brooke Schulz said. "We have sought the FCC's council to remedy the situation."

Routers reported that Schulz said Vonage had to go through and restore each customer's service individually, but that the fix was temporary. There have been reports that FCC’s Chairman Michael Powell said that the agency was "actively on this case and we are taking it pretty seriously."

I had a feeling that sole VoIP providers would feel threatened by a situation like this ever since telecoms and cable operators started to make VoIP-based calling services part of their offering. Many of us know that in fact, Internet service providers (ISP)s are more than capable of blocking VoIP-based calls of VoIP providers just by refusing data from certain ports, just as simple as how software programs block spam e-mails.

I have also reported on VoIP adapters being locked by manufacturers to only allow connectivity to certain VoIP service providers’ plans. I just hope this situation doesn’t get as complicated as cell phone plans limiting the number of devices that are compatible to their networks.