Re: DOV on PM3 (was modem calls to PM3 with no modems)
Karl Denninger (karl@Mcs.Net)
Wed, 6 Aug 1997 10:35:56 -0500
On Wed, Aug 06, 1997 at 11:32:32AM -0400, Stephen Zedalis wrote:
> On Wed, 6 Aug 1997, Karl Denninger wrote:
>
> >> Until they catch you... Here in Virginia, Bell Atlantic and GTE both use
> >> traffic monitors on their lines. If they catch you using DOV and you are
> >> paying residential and/or voice-only rates, you get socked with the normal
> >> data rate you should have paid plus a penalty. If Ameritech looks the
> >> other way great. But several providers in our area learned the lesson the
> >> hard way.
> >
> >Someone ought to sue. That looks pretty clearly illegal.
>
> Yeah it is clearly illegal. You paid saying that you wanted voice-only
> residential service and then you use it for a business data connection
> (And probably for much longer per call than a voice call would take).
> So it is hard to claim you are an "innocent victim". It
> is only a loophole in their tariffing structure that makes this
> advantageous price-wise and they did not anticipate DOV use. ISDN should
> be priced the same for residence and business. But they are not. They
> price the various services based on expected usage. DOV throws their
> equations out of whack and they are trying to fall back and recoup the
> proper usage charge. State Corporation Commission has upheld this as a
> legal practice, and for now it is the final authority.
Wait a second.
You paid saying that you wanted a 3.1Khz audio channel.
What you put on that channel is YOUR BUSINESS.
Remember, the phone company is a COMMON CARRIER. You purchased *BANDWIDTH*,
and that bandwidth happened to be 3.1Khz audio (which you declared in the BC
when you set up the call).
If you then use that bandwidth which you purchased to run speech encoded as
whatever, that's your business. Or are voice scramblers now illegal?
Remember, you can easily run "data" over a voice circuit for the purpose of
encrypting speech traffic.
Me thinks this has to go to the FCC and the Supremes if necessary -- unless,
of course, phone companies are allowed to sell one thing and then deliver
another.
--
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