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ISP For ISPs Sued By An ISP For Blocking VoIP
from the block-first,-ask-questions-later dept
In the last few months there have been plenty of stories about ISPs blocking VoIP, but here's one with a twist. According to Om Malik, a Chilean incumbent telco is being sued for blocking VoIP -- but not by an end-user. Instead, it's another ISP that's suing. The ISP in question leases lines from the telco, Telefonica Chile, and wants its customers to be able to use VoIP services -- but Telefonica Chile has apparently decided that no one using their lines should be able to use VoIP. Again, these moves by telcos seem to be incredibly short-sighted, as they're only going to make users look to go with other providers who recognize that they should be able to use their data connection for any data they want.
Reader Comments
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Um,
Not really. See Telefonica Chile isn't a private company. It's the government of Chile.
Most developing nations' telephone infrastructures are owned and operated by their host governments; it is an easy way to "tax" large multi-national corporations that do business in their country (ordinary people don't have telephones, only "rich" people have them.)
And the entire system is funded by exhorbitant rates for long-distance.
So, of course, they won't allow VOIP.
This sounds all "banana republic" until you realize that it is currently illegal to play poker or blackjack in almost every state that currently has a state-run lottery in the United States.
Same thing. Just a government-run monopoly protecting its revenue base.
Our governments do it too.
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What?
slim999,
You're incredibly wrong.
Telefonica is a publicly-traded (in NYSE!) company. It's a Spanish company. I have no idea where you get your information from, but maybe you should change sources.
That's why it's so bad, Telefonica has presence in almost all Latin America. Let's hope they don't make the same bad decisions in the rest of Latin America.
http://www.telefonica.es/
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Re: What?
Leo,
You can get facts about the Chilean telephone monolopy here here.
http://www.ctc.cl/investors/informacion/html/info_historica.html
The Chilean government in 1971 stole this company from its rightful owners (ITT, now AT&T) a practice not uncommon in Latin America during the 1970s. It is partly owned by Telefonica, but the bylaws of the company specificially prohibit Telefonica from gaining majority ownership.
While you can certainly purchase stock in this "company" on the NYSE, it is primarily owned and operated (as best I can still tell) by the Chilean government (not uncommon in developing countries, of which I have personally visited approximately 20).
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telefonica in Brazil blocking VOIP
I am an American living in Brazil and I maintain a VOIP service in the U.S. so my friends and family can call me at a lower price. Lately the phone calls have not been getting through at all. Months ago, Telefonica was loaded down with virus problems and their ISP servers were barely operational. There ISP services are now working fine, so I believe they replaced their old servers with new ones with an addition, added in. The VOIP calls I was receiving before, are no longer getting through. Could this be part of the new agreements made with Microsoft on expanding VOIP in South America or is the Spanish monopoly in the Sao Paulo area, creating this VOIP blocking on their own. Can anyone answer that question!
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telefonica in Brazil blocking VOIP
Yep, sure sounds like telefonica in Brazil is blocking VOIP. I've tried repeatedly to get through to friends living there only to get either a busy signal (and a recorded message) or a no answer (and a recorded message).
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