Thursday, April 14, 2005

Blocked Ports Results in Broadband War?

from a New Telephony article: "Even with the FCC decision, one large company could decide to bite the bullet and cut off VoIP to encourage others to act. Consumers, for the most part, have only two broadband alternatives — cable modem and DSL — and both could act in concert. ... The resulting consumer and legal reaction would be contentious, even ugly, but broadband providers could decide to defy the FCC and offer their own services only at whatever price they felt could fly. Consumers would have little recourse as the issue worked its way through the FCC and courts, which could take time. Hosts of VoIP Napsters could be spawned to find ways around the blocking. .... Would all this happen? It is hoped not. Nothing hurts an industry like a war between consumers and vendors. The music industry still has not recovered, and may never, from the Napster war. The satellite industry took a decade to recover from the piracy that ensued in the ’80s when previously free-to-air transmissions were encrypted."

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