FCC asked to ensure that wireless carriers cannot bar SMS traffic
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Alfredo Padilla Published on December 13, 2007 Comment on this |
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A consortium of public interest groups have asked the FCC to keep cellular carriers from blocking SMS traffic. Citing recent examples like Verizon's decision to block SMS messages from NARAL Pro-choice America and the decision by several carriers to refuse VOIP service Rebtel. Many groups now use subscription SMS services to send updates and information to wireless subscribers. Carriers are barred from discriminating against voice and email traffic, but not SMS traffic.In a letter to the FCC groups such as Public Knowledge, the Consumer Union and Free Press argue that "Mobile carriers currently can and do arbitrarily decide what customers to serve and which speech to allow on text messages, refusing to serve those that they find controversial or that compete with the mobile carriers’ services. This type of discrimination would be unthinkable and illegal in the world of voice
communications, and it should be so in the world of text messaging as well."
Verizon's decision to bar Naral from setting up a service where supporters can subscribe to alerts via text message was widely criticized and the company eventually reversed its decision. Public interest groups also cited the case of Rebtel, a company that provides voice over IP (VOIP) services that compete with wireless carriers, who was also barred from using a text message based service. Rebtel allows consumers to make a local call that is then connected via VOIP to overseas numbers.
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