Comcast to make life easier for rival Vonage
Posted
Jul 10 2008, 01:40 PM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Comcast has long been suspected of no-good hijinks when it comes to carrying the services of rival companies over its networks. Vonage customers, for example, have complained about the voice quality of their calls on Comcast's broadband for years. The issue has grown large enough that the Federal Communications Commission began looking at it.
Clearly uncomfortable with the growing scrutiny, Comcast said it would start working with Vonage to ensure Vonage's Internet phone service runs smoothly. Comcast also sells Internet phone capability, and finds itself in the unusual position of helping a competitor provide better service.
That's good news for Vonage, whose share price is up 4% at mid-day to $1.53. Comcast shares are up less than 1% to $18.63.
The problems seem to magnify during peak usage times, when Comcast has to decide what's a priority and how to manage the system. I assume Vonage has seen some problems there, because Vonage says it will now start testing how its service responds to Comcast's network management.
Comcast still isn't off the hook with regulators, however. The FCC has already held hearings about Comcast's practices, and is continuing to look at how Comcast and other Internet service providers deal with rival services on their networks.
Related reading:
Vonage gets pummeled in court again
Cable companies eyeing nationwide wireless network
Cable continues to sucker us
