[Asterisk-biz] VoipJet's Terms of Service

[Kevin P. Fleming]

Michael Greb wrote:

> Yes, and I thought the FCC ruled this past week or the week before
> that municipalities couldn't tax VOIP leaving the solely the domain of
> the FCC, I could be off base but thought I remembered reading this.

No, you misunderstood.

The FCC cannot control who can levy taxes on products like this, at 
least not easily. What they can do, though, is manage _regulation_ of 
products, companies, etc.

Their decision this week was that Vonage's service qualifies as 
"inter-state" communication, and thus was not subject to regulation by 
the public utilities commissions in the states where Vonage does 
business. While the decision will certainly have good side effects for 
many of us, it was a fairly narrow interpretation and does not yet 
address the bigger issues (primarily taxation and "universal service 
fund" contributions, but also things like tariffs that are required for 
traditional common carriers).