Earthling

One of the first services to test the question of network neutrality has been VOIP (Voice Over IP).

VOIP (Voice Over IP) services allow you to make standard telephone calls through an adapter via your Internet Service Provider. EarthLink offers a VOIP service called TrueVoice, and there are several others in the market including Vonage.

As long as you already have high-speed internet service like DSL or Cable, you pay around $15-$30 extra a month for the ability to make local and long-distance phone calls with a regular landline telephone through your internet connection.

These services are sold separately from your internet connection. So even if you are not an EarthLink DSL or Cable customer, for example, you can use TrueVoice on your internet connection and route the service through your internet service provider.

That much is probably not news to most people.

But in some countries, ISP's have used special software to detect VOIP phone traffic through the internet and block it when it comes from certain networks. ArsTechnica writer Ken Fisher has been following this issue closely, and he reports this practice occuring in places like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Germany.

Although to my knowledge no U.S. ISP is yet blocking VOIP service, that could change soon. In a Business Week interview, SBC's CEO Ed Whitacre has said that he is seeking a way to make extra money on customers who use non-SBC VOIP services through their internet connection:

"Now what they would like to do is use my pipes free, but I ain't going to let them do that because we have spent this capital and we have to have a return on it. So there's going to have to be some mechanism for these people who use these pipes to pay for the portion they're using. Why should they be allowed to use my pipes?"

It's not clear when he's talking about "these people" if he means the VOIP provider services or the customers, but the implication is clear.

I've put this in the "@earthlink" category because as both an ISP and a VOIP provider, we're right in the middle of this mess. EarthLink believes in upholding the value of network neutrality. As a member of the VON coalition we're assisting in developing legislation to keep network traffic neutral. In a statement before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, EarthLink's Executive Vice President of Public Policy Chris Putala explained:

"..Once a consumer has purchased the right to use the express lane, they should be able to use that express lane for ALL applications, not just those their BITS provider would prefer. Network owners must not be allowed to favor their own customers or applications. " (note: this is from an unofficial transcript, as the official transcript is not yet available)

There was some good news this week on the net neutrality front, as the FTC made a statement indicating that ISP's should not block internet traffic based on its content. I can't find the actual text of the statement yet, but here's the article where I saw the reference.