Google Voice is in Survival Mode, Kind Of

Posted 10/29/2009 at 12:09pm | by Bart Salisbury

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It seemed liked a good idea at the time, Google’s got to be thinking right about now. The good idea is Google Voice, which allows users a whole lot of nifty features for making and managing phone calls. For some, such as AT&T, however, Google Voice is a bad idea because Google Voice gets to play by a different set of rules which allow it to invade AT&T’s turf, and undercut its revenue stream.

One of the headaches Google Voice has generated for its parent company is the result of blocking calls to certain numbers. It costs to make calls, and the costs are greater to rural carriers, conference call services, and adult-themed entertainment. The rules for telephone company’s say all call get to pass through. Google Voice counters it is not a telephone company so doesn’t have to play by those rules.

In defending Google Voice’s decision to block calls, Richard Whitt, Google’s telecom and media counsel, tells us: “Earlier this year, we noticed an extremely high number of calls were being made to an extremely small number of destinations. In fact, the top 10 telephone prefixes--the area code plus the first three digits of a seven digit number, e.g., 555-555-XXXX--generated more than 160 times the expected traffic volumes, and accounted for a whopping 26 percent of our monthly connection costs.” Google, one can appreciate, doesn’t see a particular need to subsidize the fantasies of middle-aged single men still living in their mothers’ basements.

Google is promising to implement blocking schemes that are more particular--targeting particular numbers rather than a whole exchange. And, in fact, feels it should be congratulated for exposing “traffic pumping schemes” that drive up the cost of ordinary phone service. I’m guessing AT&T won’t be the first to send flowers.

Image Credit: Google