Caron Carlson

Internet telephony is still nascent, but small businesses across the country are beginning to realize considerable advantages from it, including the option to pick an area code of their choice. At the same time, incumbent telephone service providers are beginning to realize that Internet telephony may have an unwelcome impact on traditional phone business. Last […]

It may be a hard sell in todays economic and political climate, but a plan to tack a recycling tax onto the price of computers and monitors is expected to emerge in Congress early next month. Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., has crafted a bill that would assess a fee of no more than $10 on […]

After spending nearly five years and untold funds in a protracted and contentious legal battle, the Federal Communications Commission lost its bid to repossess spectrum licenses assigned to NextWave Telecom Inc. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that bankruptcy law protects the bankrupt carriers licenses, setting the stage for the long-fallow spectrum to be put […]

The upcoming departure of america Online Inc. luminary Steve Case from the chairmanship of AOL Time Warner Inc. is widely seen as a positive symbolic gesture for the telecommunications and media company—one that will likely signal the rise of content provisioning over access provisioning, according to industry insiders. “While they have a lot of great […]

The debate over local competition in Washington is defined by arcane regulatory rules on which parts of the local network incumbent telephone carriers must lease to rivals. But for small businesses, its just about good service. With the Federal Communications Commission deliberating rules on incumbents network leasing responsibilities, lawmakers are trying to duck a fractious […]

It is an old adage that making laws is like making sausages, but when it comes to the Telecommunications Act of 1996, it appears increasingly that the ingredients were particularly rancid. Key lawmakers charged with overseeing telecom policy Tuesday denounced the law as a highly flawed product of powerful special interests. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., […]

This week, Congress will begin grilling the Federal Communications Commission on plans to reduce pro-competition rules written following the enactment of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Although local telephone carriers have made progress over the past seven years in gaining access to the long distance and Internet markets, few rival carriers have made significant inroads […]

Setting aside their differences over how to combat online content piracy, the IT and music recording industries united Tuesday to address the problem cooperatively rather than go to Congress for a solution. While the two industries retain some differences in approach, they agreed to ward off efforts by lawmakers to mandate technical protections. The music […]

Did you ever wish you could have a spectrum license of your own so you could bypass ISPs and link directly to the Internets fiber backbone? The idea is more than just a daydream; the government is considering whether to open up new frequencies that are conducive to high-speed broadband links and allow enterprises and […]

Its the kind of cheap telephone calling envisioned a decade ago when competition in local telephony was no more than a concept and convergence was only a buzzword. Employees at Yans NY, a small Brooklyn, N.Y., retailer that sells Chinese motif handbags and accessories, make as many local and long-distance calls in the United States […]

The telecommunications policy debate between Regional Bell Operating Companies and their rivals is perennial in Washington, but next month, several key aspects of the debate will come to a head. The Federal Communications Commission, say industry sources, is considering cutting the incumbent telephone carriers some slack on providing network access to rivals—a move those rivals […]

Just about every company that uses conference calling has experienced the same frustration: As soon as the last participant is linked into the call, another participant who was previously connected somehow gets dropped. To get around the vicious cycle, the law firm of Crabbe, Brown & James LLP, in Columbus, Ohio, is using an updated […]