Vonage Complains About Canadian ISP's "VoIP Tax"
from the stop-it-eh dept
When we wrote last week about how telcos want to begin charging people different rates to access different types of content, we failed to mention how this is already playing out in a few instances with VoIP. For example, Vonage complained several months ago that one ISP was forcing Vonage subscribers on its network to move to a higher-cost service plan with a static IP address, using the flimsy excuse that they needed to do so to follow some federal law enforcement rules. Vonage is now complaining to the Canadian government that ISP Shaw is charging Vonage subscribers a "VoIP tax" of $10 per month for some undefined "quality of service enhancement". Shaw, of course, doesn't charge users of its own VoIP service the fee, and won't provide a technical explanation of how the enhancement works or why it's necessary. Given comments from other VoIP providers as well as Shaw's penchant for traffic-shaping applications, the technical explanation and necessity appear pretty obvious.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
VoIP Legislation
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Typical...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Typical...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Correction
This isn't really correct. Shaw's VOIP plan costs $55 a month. I have Primus with unlimited long distance in North America, and it costs $30. Vonage is slightly more expensive than Primus, but still less than Shaw. A no frills plan with either of them can cost less than $20.
So, while Shaw doesn't offer the "VOIP upgrade" for their own service, it's pretty obviously factored into the price. It's not like they're undercutting the competition.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Shaw vs. VoIP
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Shaw vs. VoIP
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Shaw vs. VoIP
It's BS though, since QoS doesn't solve anything. It only assures your packets get QoS ON Shaw's network...once it leaves their network, it's anybodies game.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Shaw vs. VoIP
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Garbage
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Garbage
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Garbage
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Garbage
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Test
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Shaw vs VoIP
If you go for a job with them, you have to agree to not tell anyone else working there how much you make.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Is Rogers really?
If you have so much proof that you think they will actually do something, then do it instead of just making empty threats. Things won't fix themselves like you're hoping they will.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]