You may or may not have heard that in the U.S., Verizon, one of the big telecomm giants, has sued Vonage over what they claim are patent rights over ALL VoiP (Voice over IP). If Verizon wins, this could not only impact Vonage's ability to offer great services and prices to people like ME, it might also impact other internet phone carriers such as Skype.
Check out this website and if you're so inclined, click on the various links to take action. You can sign a petition, send a letter to Verizon giving them your 2 cents, and tell your friends about it.
Yes, I have a personal interest in seeing this lawsuit shot down in the courts. I was a Verizon customer for years but some time ago switched to Vonage for their lower rates.
But since I moved abroad, Vonage has been an absolute God-send in other ways. Vonage makes it possible for me to keep my old New Jersey phone number, making it easy for family, friends and clients to contact me with no additional cost or inconvenience to them, whether I'm in France, the U.S. or elsewhere. It makes it possible for me to have a French land-line phone number for European friends and clients to contact me, too. It makes it possible for me to call anyone I want, anywhere within the U.S., Canada, France, the U.K. and several other European countries. And it makes it possible for me to do ALL of that for less than $50 USD a month. It's not a perfect service sometimes but it's darned close, and the benefits outweigh the drawbacks for me.
But more than my personal interests in the case, it really steams me when an American company tries to squash the free competition model and gain a near-monopoly. Sure, Verizon and other big traditional telecomm companies out there are scared about VoiP because it makes it possible for other carriers to get in the game and offer phone services far more cheaply than the Big Boys are able to do. But instead of figuring out what they can do to offer such FABULOUS services that I might WANT to go back to being a Verizon customer, they'd rather not bother upgrading their services and customer services (seriously, Verizon has terrible customer service and I could write volumes about Verizon horror stories) but would prefer to kill off the competition so they're the only game in town. And if they damage Vonage, they'll be after someone else next. Just wait and see.
OK, I'm off the soapbox now. Back to work...
