Google and ATT in clash of the titans
September 28, 2009
Disputes over AT&T's restrictions on Google Voice being carried over its broadband networks have grown more and more bellicose, with the telecom giant Friday filing documents with the FCC accusing Google of violating the government's net neutrality guidelines.
AT&T says that Google Voice, a voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) service, frequently denies service to calls in certain local exchange carriers in remote rural locations. Common carrier rules that govern AT&T and other long-distance phone carriers prohibit blocking any calls to specific local exchange carriers.
Google, for its part, argues that Google Voice is not a long-distance service provider, but an internet application, and is therefore not bound by the same rules as AT&T. The company says that it is a free service that was never intended to supplant traditional phone carriers, and is still an invitation-only trial service serving small numbers of people.
Both companies agree, in principle, that common carrier regulations are deeply flawed, though for very different reasons. Experts see this dispute as an opening skirmish in the upcoming war over net neutrality laws.
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