This makes it sound like Verizon is forcing skype through the voice plan in order to meet gov. regulations. But I will confirm that what they are saying is BS. They use the government as an excuse to continue a business practice that just happens to make them more money.
This is exactly what Verizon is doing. They are lying to the public about their legal obligations in order to continue this charade: "the wireless phone companies provide the services that you use on your phone... without adding their effort, the new service would not be available" This is BS and the public still buys it as fact.
In reality... phone companies only provide network access to the internet (data plan). The only other thing they can do is "break" that service by limiting what is and is not allowed to travel across the data plan you paid for. Knowing this... each phone company has intentionally "broken" their network and instead only allows limited service to the commonly used protocols currently used by their customers. This guarantees that all new services falling outside this will require them to add it. Thus further enforcing the misconception that they somehow have something to do with the service (like Skype)... but in reality they are simple slowly fixing new services that they had previously broken already.
But this is even worse... instead of allowing the service through their limited data access plan.. They pidgeon holded it through to guarantee they will extract additional money from customers who already paid for everything they need to get free VOIP through Skype.
When will the public revolt and say "just give me data. Ignore my content. If I exceed the bandwidth alloted in my contract, you can cut me off. Otherwise f**k off!"
You should read what 'xplmr' said above. This is the correct interpretation. This is a business decision not a legal issue. The writer of this article was fed Verizon corporate BS and he totally ate it.
Ask them to site which law they are referring to. Ask for this statement in writing. Ask if for a name from Verizon that you can associate with their quote. In the end, if you are persistant, you will get a call from a Verizon corporate manager asking why you want to know the reasoning. Then he will admit that it is a business decision (which they have a right to make) and it is not a legal requirement.
The cable company will tell you the same thing when you ask for TV without local ABC, NBC, CBS affiliate stations. They (call support staff) will tell you that the government (FCC) mandates it. But this is incorrect information passed onto them by a manager who knows better. Why give you just HBO when they can force you to also buy access to other stations you don't need (ie: you have an antenna port on your TV right?)
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(untitled comment)
This is exactly what Verizon is doing. They are lying to the public about their legal obligations in order to continue this charade: "the wireless phone companies provide the services that you use on your phone... without adding their effort, the new service would not be available" This is BS and the public still buys it as fact.
In reality... phone companies only provide network access to the internet (data plan). The only other thing they can do is "break" that service by limiting what is and is not allowed to travel across the data plan you paid for. Knowing this... each phone company has intentionally "broken" their network and instead only allows limited service to the commonly used protocols currently used by their customers. This guarantees that all new services falling outside this will require them to add it. Thus further enforcing the misconception that they somehow have something to do with the service (like Skype)... but in reality they are simple slowly fixing new services that they had previously broken already.
But this is even worse... instead of allowing the service through their limited data access plan.. They pidgeon holded it through to guarantee they will extract additional money from customers who already paid for everything they need to get free VOIP through Skype.
When will the public revolt and say "just give me data. Ignore my content. If I exceed the bandwidth alloted in my contract, you can cut me off. Otherwise f**k off!"
Re:
Ask them to site which law they are referring to. Ask for this statement in writing. Ask if for a name from Verizon that you can associate with their quote. In the end, if you are persistant, you will get a call from a Verizon corporate manager asking why you want to know the reasoning. Then he will admit that it is a business decision (which they have a right to make) and it is not a legal requirement.
The cable company will tell you the same thing when you ask for TV without local ABC, NBC, CBS affiliate stations. They (call support staff) will tell you that the government (FCC) mandates it. But this is incorrect information passed onto them by a manager who knows better. Why give you just HBO when they can force you to also buy access to other stations you don't need (ie: you have an antenna port on your TV right?)
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