<http://www.theregister.com/2007/02/02/robertson_voip_net_neutrality/>

....

We took the opportunity to catch up with Robertson his latest
snapshot of the VoIP industry. Gizmo scored a coup last year when
Nokia bundled it with the N80 Internet Edition - its mass market
Wi-Fi phone. Robertson hinted at more deals to come.

"We've been working for Nokia very closely for a year, on
all kinds of things from usability to NAT traversal - all making it
easy to set up and use," he told us.

Robertson had nothing but praise for Nokia for fighting the carriers'
refusal to include Wi-Fi on devices they sell. Most famously, Nokia's
Blackberry clone the E61 was denuded of WLAN at Cingular's request,
when it became the E62.

"Where the majority of telco-related companies are figuring out ways
to lock users in, Nokia is moving in the opposite direction," he
says.

If there's a silver lining, he hopes, in that it might raise
awareness of SIM-less phones.

"The idea of unlocked phones, where you swap out one GSM SIM and
replace it with another, hasn't really been in the consciousness or
reported in the press. But you're starting to see changes with that.

The problem was that all the major US retail chains, such as BestBuy,
Circuit City or Radio Shack, had each done an exclusive deal with one
vendors, which dictated what they could and couldn't sell.

How was he finding it deal with telcos, we wondered? A true VoIP
service still needed to be able to terminate at a POTS line.

"There's reasonable competition," he told us. "But you see a lot of
sneakiness - you agree the tarriffs and then when you get the bill 45
days later there are all these extra telecomm charges. It's like your
cellular bill!"

"If you're not watching it like a hawk, lots of imaginary charges pop
up, and the rates change all the time. There is competition but you
have to be very diligent," he said.

One Net Neutrality, Robertson joins with the engineer's consensus
to leave well alone. Which is a little surprising for a VoIP
provider.

"I just see it as a natural struggle for dominance/profit in the free
market. If you're Wal-Mart, you can go to manufacturers and jam them
like crazy: it's all about dominance. So on the Internet a DSL
provider goes 'I have these DSL lines', and a Google says 'I have all
these people using my search engine'. This whole network neutrality
debate is about sides of the debate getting the best government
protection for their businesses."

And the scares are overwrought, he reckons.

"I can't see any scenario where a provider would black any services
or meaningfully degrade them because we know what happens to walled
gardens on the internet - they get driven out of the market."

[MORE]

--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_HowTo>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>