I was notified by a VoIP affiliate program that they are no longer carrying Lingo within their VoIP affiliate portfolio due to e911 requirements by the FCC. Lingo does not currently conform to e911 requirements and therefore they are restricting their marketing efforts. As you probably were aware, the FCC order specifically prohibits marketing and acquiring new customers for any VoIP provider that is not e911 compliant. So does this mean the end for Lingo or any similar VoIP provider? Sure they could add e911, but that will take time and money. Considering cellular companies are not e911 compliant and they've had 10 years to work on the problem it is odd that the FCC is coming down so hard on VoIP.
Also, the FCC order is extremely vague as to what constitutes "marketing" or acquiring new customers. For instance, I still see Vonage commercials on TV and I don't think Vonage is completely e911-compliant in every region in the U.S. yet. But Vonage could argue their TV commercials are not designed to acquire new customers but rather it's a "brand awareness" campaign designed to show market leadership and to RETAIN existing customers. After all, a VoIP provider that spends millions on TV ads must have strong financials, right? (and please don't bring up the millions of dollars of marketing Genuity spent on their Black Rocket campaign and which is now defunct ;) )
Point being, the FCC should not have a right to restrict VoIP companies from retaining their existing customers through brand awareness campaigns. Considering the FCC board members are appointed by a Republican Administration and Republicans are known for being pro-business, the FCC's stance on this issue is quite surprising. It also just seems un-American to prevent a business from keeping their existing customers. In fact, an argument could be made that the FCC order is stifling VoIP companies from freedom of expression and indeed freedom of speech protected by the First Amendment.
VoIP providers should be allowed to start their brand awareness through marketing regardless of the status of meeting the e911 requirements. They can simply turn away customers and not sign them up until they meet the FCC requirements or be fined by the FCC. And speaking of fines, what the heck are the fines for violating the FCC e911 order? Is it a flat-rate fine per violation? Is there an incremental increase for repeated offenses? What if a customer is in an area where e911 is served then moved to a rural area where their is no e911 - does the VoIP provider have to terminate the service or face a fine? How many offenses before the FCC removes your right to do business in the U.S.? The FCC has been very vague in this area which is leading to a lot of confusion in the industry. Besides the e911 requirement, the issue of "what is the punishment?" may be one reason why Lingo has decided to pull back on their marketing.
On a related note, Packet8 announced today that they are e911 compliant for all of their Packet8 subscribers and which was developed in partnership with Level 3.
android apple asterisk at&t blackberry cell phone cisco dell digium e911 facebook fcc google google talk gps im ip-pbx ipad iphone ipod itexpo ITEXPO lync microsoft mobile phone open source outage phone review sip skype sony unified communications verizon video video conferencing voip vonage wireless xbox 360
- Apple (280)
- Bittorrent (2)
- Call Center and CRM (48)
- Computer Hardware (183)
- Computer Software (71)
- Gadgets (650)
- Google (225)
- Home Entertainment (263)
- Internet (173)
- Linux (111)
- Microsoft (376)
- MovableType (48)
- News (187)
- Personal and Humor (118)
- Politics (9)
- Reviews (246)
- Security (2)
- Social Networking (42)
- Sports/Outdoor Technology (9)
- Tablets (32)
- Technology and Science (355)
- Unified Communications (471)
- VoIP (2285)
- Wireless (584)
- p2p (20)
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
- November 2005
- October 2005
- September 2005
- August 2005
- July 2005
- June 2005
- May 2005
- April 2005
- March 2005
- February 2005
- January 2005
- December 2004
- November 2004
- October 2004
- September 2004
- August 2004
- July 2004
- June 2004
- May 2004
- April 2004
- March 2004
Featured Videos