Rebtel Blog

Verizon’s Smoke At The FCC Is So Thick You Can Cut It With A Knife

I want to go on the record. Rebtel does not promote the use of alcohol, tobacco products, guns, other weapons, or illegal drugs. Nor does Rebtel advocate or have anything to do whatsoever with intense profanity or violence, graphic depiction of sexual activity, nudity, or hate speech.

We are not SPAMers or purveyors of fraudulent materials or activities that are restricted by law to those over 18, such as gambling or lotteries.

Nevertheless, if you take the time to wade through the nearly 200 collective pages of legal mumbo jumbo recently filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) by Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint Nextel and CTIA – The Wireless Association, you might actually come away thinking we are. Or could be.

In fact, the only thing we do at Rebtel is give consumers an alternative way to make an international call from their mobile phone, for which we charge them a few pennies per minute instead of mobile operators’ ridiculous rip-off rates.

As you might guess, the carriers are not wild about our service – even though it’s super simple and very low cost to implement. Just ask our friends at Skype, Jajah and Jaxter which are now blatantly copying Rebtel’s invention.

That, however, is an entirely separate kettle of fish.

The issue at hand before the FCC is very straightforward. And we totally agree with AT&T, which wrote in its filing that it is important for the FCC to be clear as to what this proceeding is about, and more importantly, what it is not about.

AT&T wrote in its filing: “This proceeding is not about the ability of wireless customers to exchange [text] messages with other wireless customers. What is at issue is whether wireless carriers can be forced to enter into joint marketing arrangements with content providers through the activation of short code campaigns.”

But for some reason they got it backward. The issue concerning Rebtel is all about the ability of wireless customers to exchange text messages with other wireless customers, and has absolutely nothing to do with marketing using short code campaigns.

As I’ve discussed here in the past, short codes, among other uses are how text messages (SMS) get sent from a company’s web site to an individual’s phone in the U.S.

What’s happening is the carriers’ customers want to send themselves a text message from the Rebtel web site and they want to receive text messages that their friends, family and work colleagues send to them from the Rebtel web site.

But Verizon and Alltel won’t approve a Rebtel short code campaign that would allow those messages through. And while AT&T has approved Rebtel’s campaign, it transmits the messages as flash SMS so they disappear if you don’t immediately save them when they arrive.

All these games because the carriers don’t like what’s in the messages: local phone numbers where you live that connect you to friends abroad.

Verizon wrote in its filing that it does not block text messages, “except those addressed to its subscribers that are captured by its spam filters, or that are affirmatively selected for blocking by its subscribers.”

But there is no mass mailing of text messages going out from Rebtel that might be trapped by a SPAM filter. Instead every single messages is 1:1 sending initiated by the Verizon or AT&T or Alltel or whatever customer to either themselves or from a friend.

What the carriers are doing is really no different than if Verizon started listening into customers’ voice calls and disconnecting the calls if someone talks about a better deal over at AT&T.

So, let’s cut through the baloney. This is about business.

We created Rebtel with a very simple vision: Take the phony out of telephony.

Our mission: Create a genuinely good, honest, trustworthy global communications service that saves people money.

And we set out in 2006 to build a company on just three values: Always take the customers’ side, whatever you do must be clear and simple, and have no fear – do the right thing.

That approach has paid off. Rebtel blew past 1 million regular customers months ago and we’re now tripling in size every three months in terms of new customers, revenue and minutes carried.

In contrast, I think Verizon’s approach of trapping customers into multi-year contracts and then milking them for every penny possible is beautifully captured in its request for the FCC to dismiss the petition filed by Public Knowledge, Free Press and other leading consumer advocacy groups.

Verizon argues that the complaints in the petition refer to “isolated instances” that don’t warrant government involvement. “If consumers want to join a short code campaign that Verizon Wireless has not enabled, they may switch to a provider willing to enable that campaign.”

Okay, Verizon – which providers do you suggest? And, by the way, will you wave the penalty fee on my contract when I do?

Posted in AT&T, Alltel, CTIA – The Wireless Association, Common Short Code Administration, Flash SMS, Free Press, Jajah, Jaxter, Public Knowledge, SMS, SPAM, Sprint, Verizon, blog, federal communications commission, skype, t-mobile, text message, voip | No Comments »

An open letter to U.S. Reps. Edward J. Markey and Cliff Stearns

Dear Representatives Markey and Stearns:

As leaders of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, we ask that you consider taking up an important telecom issue that has real impact on lower-income residents of the U.S. and the future of competition in mobile voice communications.

I’m referring to the short code issue now before the Federal Communications Commission in the form of a petition for declaratory ruling that refusing to provision a short code to a customer is unjust and unreasonable discrimination, and violates the law.

This issue is important because short codes are what make it possible in the U.S. for companies to send SMS – text messages – to individuals.

Today, mobile operators still have the ability to act as Big Brother gatekeepers even after a company has received a dedicated or shared short code from the Common Short Code Administration (CSCA), and submitted a specification of traffic flow and commands to each carrier for approval of the process of OPT-IN and OPT-OUT to make sure the recipients really do wish to receive the SMS.

In other words if Verizon, AT&T, Alltel or T-Mobile don’t like what’s in certain SMS, they have the ability to block the message from going through to the consumer.

The FCC petition filed in December by public interest groups Public Knowledge, Free Press and Mobile Commons, cited Verizon’s rejection of NARAL Pro-Choice America’s text messages to its supporters as a prime example of carriers interference with political speech.

Violating American’s sacred First Amendment rights is downright dumb. And Verizon quickly stopped blocking NARAL’s SMS as soon as The New York Times shed some light on what Verizon was up to.

But what may be a better case for why regulation is needed is the U.S. carriers’ refusal to accept SMS from Rebtel, which is also cited in the petition as an example of how Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile and Alltel have taken advantage of a perceived regulatory hole to discriminate against competitors.

For example, Verizon – the self-proclaimed “most profitable wireless company in the U.S.” –prevents its customers from sending SMS to themselves from the Rebtel web site because they contain local U.S. phone numbers Verizon customers can use to call friends and family abroad for just pennies per minute instead of the rip-off rates charged by Verizon. Many of these rates escalate beyond $1 per minute, with profit margins that rival the oil companies.

At a hearing last Monday on network neutrality and network management, FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin said, “The time has come for a specific enforceable principle of nondiscrimination.”

We think Mr. Martin is right and should now apply that same position to the short code issue, and stop the arbitrary blocking of consumer access to certain services.

We also think it’s the FCC’s job to figure out where you draw the line between unreasonable discrimination and reasonable, fair business practices.

And, if we really live in a country of free enterprise, we think it’s high time to let the customer – the people – decide what information they choose to receive by SMS, and not have it dictated by the big mobile operators.

We hope you agree with us on this issue and closely monitor the FCC proceeding. And would the FCC believe that it lacks authority to correct these wrongs, we encourage you to introduce legislation that makes clear that the FCC should prevent wireless carriers from unreasonably discriminating against businesses using short codes to interact with their customers.

Sincerely,

Rebtel (the people’s global communication company)

Posted in AT&T, Alltel, Common Short Code Administration, Free Press, House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Intern, Kevin J. Martin, Mobile Commons, NARAL Pro-Choice America, Net Neutrality, Public Knowledge, Rep. Cliff Stearns, Rep. Edward J. Markey, SMS, Verizon, blog, calls, cheap, federal communications commission, mobile, mvoip, t-mobile, telephony, text message | 1 Comment »

Rebtel played by the rules. Now it’s Verizon’s turn.

Welcome all Verizon and AT&T customers!

That probably sounds a bit odd coming from Rebtel these days. But yesterday Verizon and AT&T rolled out new plans that give U.S. customers unlimited airtime minutes for a flat fee of $100. And flat fee plans are music to our ears – even if the carrier continues to block its customers’ SMS.

Unlimited airtime minutes means anyone who subscribes to one of these plans now has the ability to make unlimited free international calls to 39 countries around the world using Rebtel’s Smart Call system.

But even if they’re not willing to jump through the few hoops that make the international portion of call free, they can still take advantage of our super low-cost rates for calling any phone, anywhere in the world.

And eventually, we hope that Verizon will come to its senses and stop preventing its customers from sending standard SMS – text messages – to themselves and their friends if they contain local phone numbers issued by Rebtel.

Late last week I spoke with Robert Poe, a reporter for VoIP-News and DailyWireless about this issue. As any good reporter should do, Robert contacted Verizon after our call. Verizon – no surprise – denies that it is blocking SMS that their customers try to send to themselves or that their friends try to send to them from the Rebtel web site.

Robert declined Rebtel’s help to test our claims, which will make his findings all the more powerful when they come out. In the mean time, with the kind help of my comrade Fredrik Henning, I thought I’d take a minute to shed some light the mechanics of this problem and why Verizon is not telling the truth.

To be able to send SMS to people in U.S. from a system platform – not person to person – a short code number is required to identify the sender of the messages. Therefore every provider of messaging services has to apply for a dedicated or shared short code (a 5-6 digit number) from the Common Short Code Administration (CSCA), which Rebtel had done and received.

The reason for this bureaucracy is that the U.S. market applies interconnect charges differently than other countries. In the U.S. mobile recipients pay for incoming SMS. In contrast, people in Europe do not pay for incoming SMS because the operators in Europe are being paid by the originating operators to cover the cost of delivering the SMS to the recipient.

Rebtel wants its customers to be able to send SMS to their friends that are mobile subscribers in U.S. mobile networks. Rebtel wishes only to send SMS on behalf of the users, and not perform any unsolicited bulk messaging (a.k.a. SPAM or advertising).

So, despite what Verizon spokesman Jeffrey Nelson tells the press, every SMS sent from Rebtel’s system is sent on behalf of the users who have requested that Rebtel send SMS to their friends or to themselves.

But it doesn’t end here. To get a short code implemented in a U.S. mobile operator’s network a specification of traffic flow and commands has to be submitted to each operator for approval of the process of OPT-IN and OPT-OUT, insuring that the recipients really do wish to get charged for receiving SMS.

Rebtel provided its specification of this process and got it approved by some operators, but not all – namely, Verizon.

So the bottom line is we’ve played by the rules. Our specification follows all requirements to get a short code approved with regards to OPT-IN and OPT-OUT. Yet, Verizon refuses to approve it. What’s that about? Why is this allowed?

We think it’s now time for the industry to stand up to this bullying.

We think the CTIA – the trade association “dedicated to expanding the wireless frontier” – needs to reprimand Verizon and demand they play by the rules.

And if that doesn’t work, then we think it really is time for the FCC to do something about Verizon and its blatant anti-competitive abuse of power.

Posted in AT&T, Common Short Code Administration, DailyWireless, Free Press, Jeffrey Nelson, Net Neutrality, Public Knowledge, Robert Poe, SMS, Verizon, VoIP-News, blog, calls, cheap, disruption, federal communications commission, international, mobile, mvoip, price, telecom cartels, text message, voip | No Comments »