By: Luke
Truphone mulls Ofcom complaint over handset restrictions
Interesting article from Andrew Orlowski in The Register which highlights moves by mobile providers to restrict internet telephony functionality on handsets. Truphone, a provider of WLAN VoIP services is reportedly mulling an official complaint to Ofcom to ask the regulator to intervene if mobile networks continue to cripple VoIP-capable handsets.
The article highlights Orange and Vodafone as the main offenders, with both providers reported to have disabled the internet call functionality on Nokia’s new N95 phone.
I imagine customers might be a little surprised to find that this is the case since the phone specs claim the phone is WLAN-aware and SIP supported for internet telephony. No idea if network providers flag the customisation but you would have thought that if they didn’t they would be selling faulty products on a fraudulent basis.
Truphone have made a quick video highlighting the issue - one that will no doubt become an increasing problem with the surge in WLAN hot-spots, particularly in key metropolitan areas.
I would be interested to know the Ofcom Consumer Panel’s view on issues like this one…?
Apr 19th 2007
You don’t think the £500 subsidy on the handset that Vodafone and Orange provide is material? Quite apart from the utter impracticality of WiFi voip…
And if you don’t claim you’re selling a VOIP phone, where’s the fraud?
Apr 19th 2007
I agree with ‘BGE’. Orange and Vodafone are responsible — both contractually and by their reputation — for the quality of service experienced by their subscribers. If they believe that a phone’s particular feature (whatever it might be) may lessen the service quality, I think they should be entitled to disable it. Now, the next question is one of disclosure… in this case, I think the fact that these features are disabled should be disclosed…
Apr 19th 2007
BGE - you say that WiFi VoIP is utterly impractical. Well it certainly is on phones where the function is disabled! Also, are we to assume that you have written off wireless VoIP as a viable technology? Seems a little hasty.
As for the handset subsidy - it’s a fair (and important) point. But taking away handset functionality seems like a regressive step that undoutably impacts consumer choice. Still you identify the key rationale for the action taken.
Dressing this up as a quality of service issue - as Russ has done - has some merit but is also a lame form of protectionism. I doubt consumers would use VoIP via the mobile if it was of appalling quality - so why would the MNO’s worry? On this basis, I have to assume that Russ will be advocating telecoms providers blocking fixed line VoIP services in his next post.
Apr 24th 2007
I don’t dismiss wireless VOIP - just wifi VOIP. Remember the Rabbit phone? What problem is this solving?
Meanwhile, running vanilla SIP or Skype over a WCDMA data connection makes much less efficient use of spectrum than the built-in circuit voice mechanism. Operators, quite rightly, see VOIP over cellular data as an abritrage mechanism to get cheap voice calls out of pricing anomalies (in the same category as call-back or gateway businesses) rather than a ’service’ per se. When IMS over HSDPA and HSOPA are fully deployed, then cellular VOIP will make sense, but for now it’s a hack.