Broadband provider accused of blocking calls from Vonage

• Wireless operator Clearwire was one of two broadband providers causing traffic problems for Internet phone operator Vonage, a Vonage spokeswoman said Wednesday.
• Vonage said last month that a cable operator, along with Clearwire, was suspected of blocking calls and not letting some home-phone adapters work appropriately.
• While identifying Clearwire, Vonage has not provided the cable operator's identity nor the exact cause of the problems.
• Vonage calls over Clearwire's network are now going through uninterrupted, but an issue remains with the cable operator, according to Vonage.
• Blocked calls by design or technical error are becoming more commonplace for Vonage and other voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, telephone operators.
• The usual suspects are broadband providers, which view VoIP providers as unwanted hitchhikers on their networks.
• Because VoIP software lets any Internet connection double as an inexpensive phone line, Vonage and other "networkless" operators need only require subscribers to supply a broadband connection on their own.
• WiMax is an experimental technology that promises to broadcast broadband at a radius of several miles.
• The Vonage complaints in March were levied less than three weeks after a Mebane, N.C., telecommunications provider, Madison River Communications, said it would "refrain from blocking" VoIP calls and pay a $15,000 fine to the government.
• Vonage, a VoIP provider, brought Madison River to the Federal Communications Commission's attention and may do the same with providers involved in these latest problems.
• The FCC had hoped the Madison River enforcement would help eradicate what's commonly referred to as "port blocking," a way of blocking traffic--one that telecommunications providers threatened by VoIP are turning to with increasing frequency.
• The FCC did not comment on Monday about the impact of the fine or about the Vonage complaints.