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Broadband-in-Gas
A lawyer friend of mine detailed a court case he was involved in years ago involving ownership of gas lines criss-crossing the country. He explained how complicated the gas infrastructure of the country is and told me charts of these gas lines would make your eyes blur.
Now it seems these pipelines can be used to transmit and receive broadband via intra-wideband technology. A new technology called Broadband-in-Gas or BiG could become the savior of telecom competition in the
A research company called West Technology Research Solutions has a report on this market and if you would like more information, please contact them directly:
For more information, contact:
Contact: Karin Hall
Company: West Technology Research Solutions
Title: Senior Analyst
Phone: 650-940-1196
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FCC VoIP E911 Public Note
I received this today and thought it might be helpful. (Please consult your lawyers on any matter pertaining to this blog entry and do not take this as legal advice. I am passing on an e-mail I received that was not directly from the Swidler Berlin LLC and may potentially be incomplete, etc.):
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FCC Enforcement Bureau Releases Public Notice Concerning the Nov. 28, 2005 Deadline
FCC's Enforcement Bureau released a Public Notice that, among other things, provides guidance on the disconnection of current VoIP customers where full E911 compliance is not reached by November 28, 2005. The Public Notice also lists information the Bureau requests that interconnected VoIP service providers include in the required compliance statements (due November 28, 2005) detailing the steps interconnected VoIP providers have made to comply with the E911 requirements of the Commission's VoIP E911 Order.
The Bureau specifically clarifies that VoIP providers need not discontinue service to current VoIP subscribers where fully compliant E911 service is unavailable, but also expects that VoIP providers will not market or accept customers in areas where they do not have a FCC-compliant VoIP solution in place. Specifically, the Public Notice provides “[a]lthough we do not require providers that have not achieved full 911 compliance by November 28, 2005, to discontinue the provision of interconnected VoIP service to any existing customers, we do expect that such providers will discontinue marketing VoIP service, and accepting new customers for their service, in all areas where they are not transmitting 911 calls to the appropriate PSAP in full compliance with the Commission’s rules.”
The information requested by the Bureau includes:
1) A technical description of the 911 solution being deployed, including quantifications of the number of subscribers to whom the provider is able to provide 911 service in compliance with the VoIP 911 Order, the use of selective routers and other elements of the Wireline E911 network, the use of ANI and Registered Location information, and a description of the areas of the country where, by November 28, 2005, where it is in full compliance with the VoIP E911 Order and where it is not. The Bureau also requests plan for coming into full compliance for those non-compliant locations, including anticipated timeframes.
2) A detailed description of all actions the provider has taken to obtain subscriber Registered Location information, including relevant dates and methods of contact with subscribers and a quantification, on a percentage basis, of the number of subscribers from whom the provider has obtained the Registered Location.
3) The statement should contain a description of the method(s) the provider has offered its subscribers to update their Registered Locations, including whether the provider is offering its subscribers at least one option for updating their Registered Location that permits them to use the same equipment that they use to access their interconnected VoIP service.
4) The statement should contain a detailed description of any technical solutions the provider is implementing or has implemented to ensure that subscribers have access to 911 service whenever they use their service nomadically. The Commission also requests that providers detail whether any automatic detection mechanism (that enables the provider to identify when a customer may have moved his or her interconnected VoIP service to a new location) is being used.
E911 Note by: Ronald W. Del Sesto, Jr. , Swidler
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Grokster And RIAA
I have always thought the amazing thing about p2p networks is the inability for them to be shut down as users connect with each other without the need for a centralized host. This week Grokster, the parent corporation who makes the p2p software was forced to shut down and while the company is in talks to sell their assets to a legal file sharing service to launch soon, they can’t stop users from continuing to use the service.
What they can do however is display a message to new users encouraging them to upgrade to a new version that may allow a few listens to a song before you have to pay.
The reason for the shut down of course is the Supreme Court ruling which also says the company has to pay $50 million to the Recording Industry of America.
People will still share files illegally of course by perhaps over time people will be encouraged to listen to music legally. For VoIP providers looking for alternative ways to generate revenue, streaming music and subsequently video are two such methods they employ. Teltel for example has a radio player built into their p2p SIP client.
Perhaps more people will listen to music via their VoIP software now that other p2p networks will have less of an incentive to launch new software and networks for illegal file sharing.
Either way, I expect Apple’s iTunes to benefit from this incident.
More:
AP: Grokster Downloading Service Shuts Down
WSJ: For Grokster, It's the Day the Music Died (paid registration required).
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