[asterisk-biz] Re: What's a "Phone"?

[Matthew Rubenstein]

On Fri, 2006-05-19 at 17:16 -0400, Greg Boehnlein wrote:
> On Fri, 19 May 2006, Matthew Rubenstein wrote:
> 
> > 	The FCC has used the "reasonable service expectation" policy as a
> > criterion for VOIP 911 service support:
> > http://www.technewsworld.com/story/43229.html .
> > 
> > 	The New York City Council (legislature), among other jurisdictions uses
> > that expectation policy to inform its lawmaking and oversight as well:
> > http://www.nyccouncil.info/issues/report_act.cfm?mtfile=T2004-1426 .
> > 
> > 	Those expectations transcend the "info service" vs "info network" false
> > dichtomy confounding so much governance of modern telecom. 911 forces
> > the issue, because people's reasonable expectations can't be changed to
> > meet lower vendor standards, and lives are at stake all day long.
> > Whether those policies govern the rest of "telephony", or remain limited
> > by the traditional image of "telephony" as people can begin to expect an
> > "Internet dialtone" for more varied services, will be played out over
> > the next few years.
> 
> So.. :) How does this affect the question of Number Portability from 
> Vonage to another CLEC? I, as a consumer, have a "Reasonable Service 
> Expectation" that if Vonage is charging an LNP charge that they should 
> allow me to port the number.

	Charging for a service would create a reasonable expectation of that
service. "Industry standard" practice would create it. So would
"traditional service delivery". Where the lines are drawn, 20 years
after AT&T divestiture, will be an "interesting" (and perhaps endless)
series of arguments. Currently, I'd say that practically anyone who even
knows about portability probably expects it without restriction, beyond
perhaps reasonable debt, geographic or inventory restrictions.


> I don't use Vonage, and never will, so I don't know if they do or do not. 
> I'm just asking if anyone who has ever gotten a bill from them knows 
> wether their line items on the invoice reference the LNP charge?

	Vonage's "Explanation of your monthly bill" at
http://www.vonage.com/help.php?article=545 mentions a Federal Excise Tax
(currently 3%), a Regulatory Recovery Fee (currently apparently $0.99),
Emergency 911 Recovery fee (currently $0.99), and separate 911 fees
(state/local passthrus). No mention of portability per se, though
"Regulatory Recovery Fee" is vague, could account for anything, or
nothing.

-- 

(C) Matthew Rubenstein