Fergie's Tech Blog

Canada: Shaw Defends 'QoS Enhancement' Package

Jeff Baumgartner writes on CED Magazine Online:

Shaw Communications and its Canada-based cable MSO subsidiary have filed a series of court documents that aim to "set to record straight" regarding a "Quality of Service Enhancement" package being offered to Vonage customers and customers of other third-party VoIP services that leverage the public Internet.

The documents, filed in the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench in Calgary, note that Shaw’s IP-based phone service is offered over the operator’s QoS-enabled, managed network, while Vonage’s service travels the public Internet and is open to packet delays and other "inherent limitations."

Shaw reiterated that its high-speed data customers who also use the Vonage service can take the QoS Enhancement service on a completely optional basis. The enhancement runs $10 per month.

Vonage has previously complained of the tactic, referring to it as a "thinly-veiled VoIP tax," and has since requested that the Canadian Radio-Television & Telecommunications Commission step in to investigate the matter.

posted by Fergie @ 6/19/2006 08:46:00 PM