Thursday, September 10, 2009

AT&T Admits To Blocking VoIP In Its Wireless Network

No VoIP In AT&T 3G Network
According to the press release by xG Technology, AT&T has admitted to the FCC, the Federal Communications Commission, that AT&T blocks VoIP from the wireless networks. So blocking of Google Voice a while ago that it admitted has nothing to do but Apple's doing holds very thin. In fact no carrier in continental USA allows VoIP in it's wireless spectrums, even though it will save millions to consumers. In it's response to FCC AT&T argued that it needed to block VoIP to assure that revenues from its current voice plans would not be reduced by enabling mobile VoIP calling
“It makes perfect sense,” said Joseph Bobier, chief technology officer of xG Technology, “No U.S. carrier currently allows VoIP across mobile networks. Given the billions of dollars they spent acquiring spectrum, building and deploying their cellular networks, the economics simply wouldn’t work.  VoIP saves consumers money, but the flip side of this benefit is that this means less revenue for operators.  In fact, the only two major wireless carriers in Europe that allow mobile VoIP traffic added charges that essentially strip out the savings that VoIP delivers.”
By focusing on reducing the cost of the cellular network itself, xG Technology is a company that believes mobile VoIP can provide significant savings to consumers and still be profitable for carriers.  The company’s approach has been to develop a network that uses free spectrum instead of the carrier paying billions for licensed spectrum.  This translates to lower costs that can be passed onto the consumer. 
“By contrast, xG Technology recognized that Internet based calling—VoIP—will be the technology of the future and we designed our mobile system from the ground up with that in mind.” 
xG Technology Press Release.

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