FCC Promises No Repeat Of SunRocket Shutdown
Story from PCmag.com

When VoIP provider SunRocket unexpectedly closed its doors in 2007, many customers were not aware of the closure until they picked up the phone and did not hear a dial tone.

In an effort to prevent a similar situation, the Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday approved a rule that would require failing VoIP providers to give reasonable notice to customers and regulatory officials before they shut down.

The commission also approved a rule requiring phone providers to provide number portability within one business day instead of four.

The FCC did not specify how far in advance a business VoIP services provider would have to provide this notification except to say that it should be done in a reasonable amount of time.

"These requirements do not strike me as burdensome," acting Chairman Michael Copps said during the commission's monthly open meeting.

"More people will switch to VoIP as we push broadband around the country" so it's imperative that the system is secure, said Democratic Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein.

It is also a serious public safety matter, he said, if a user needs to dial 911 and finds themselves unexpectedly without service.

Republican Commissioner Robert McDowell, who subscribed to a VoIP provider that suddenly closed up shop three years ago, said the new rule "gives consumers a reasonable opportunity to switch providers."

The commissioners also approved a rule requiring landline, wireless, and certain VoIP providers to switch customers' phone numbers to another provider within one business day rather than the current four day requirement.

The rule will now be handed over to the North American Numbering Council (NANC), a federal advisory committee that advises the FCC on numbering issues, which will provide its input on the rule within 90 days.

After the NANC report is received, carriers will have nine months to comply. Smaller carriers will have 15 months.

"While the wireless industry has adopted a standard 2.5 hour porting interval for wireless-to-wireless ports voluntarily, thereby avoiding most opportunity for mischief, there has been no such industry-wide voluntary interval for wireline-to-wireline and intermodal ports," Copps said. "Thus, the Commission was compelled to implement a mandatory interval so that consumers of all voice services can realize the true benefits intended by local number portability."

The mischief referred to by Copps included providers trying to illegally lure customers back with promises of lower rates.

Comcast Submits Plans to Manage Broadband

Comcast Corp., the country's largest cable operator by subscribers, formally submitted plans to the Federal Communications Commission late Friday detailing how the company plans to manage its broadband network.

Rather than target specific types of bandwidth-intensive applications like peer-to-peer file sharing, the company will instead slow Internet speeds for its heaviest users at peak times when its network is congested. Comcast will do this by creating a second stream of traffic for recent heavy users that will have a lower priority when compared to its other customers.

The so-called protocol-agnostic approach is intended to comply with the FCC's network neutrality principles, which restrict Internet service providers like cable and VOIP phone companies from degrading traffic from particular companies. On Aug. 20, the FCC had given Comcast -- the country's second-largest provider of broadband connections after AT&T Inc. -- 30 days to outline its new management policies.

Comcast's filing comes after the company tested the new approach which includes colocation for three months in five cities to study its impact. The company plans to put the policy in effect over its entire footprint by the end of the year. Comcast says no customer complaints were lodged about the new method in its trial markets and less than 1% of customers were affected on a typical day.

Comcast's move may set a precedent for how other carriers manage the rapidly growing traffic on their own networks. Internet traffic is doubling every two years, and other big carriers like AT&T Inc. and Time Warner Inc.'s cable unit have also indicated that they will need to take steps to marshal the limited capacity on their networks.

Comcast's network-management techniques became a lightning rod for controversy last year after the company admitted it was throttling traffic from BitTorrent Inc., a popular file-sharing application.

By: Vishesh Kumar
Wall Street Journal; September 20, 2008