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.
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VoIP Legislation
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Typical...
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Re: Typical...
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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.
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Shaw vs. VoIP
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Re: Shaw vs. VoIP
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Garbage
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Re: Garbage
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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.
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Re: Garbage
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Re: Garbage
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Re: Shaw vs. VoIP
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Test
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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.
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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.
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