From: fred@wb4aej.com   
      
   On  Mon, 5 Sep 2022 20:49:48 +0000, Bill Horne wrote:   
   > My callcentric VoIP phone stopped working yesterday, and it's still out.   
      
   Quite some years back, there was an ISP in North Carolina that blocked   
   all of its VOIP ports outgoing [towards the Internet].  It's a   
   foregone conclusion that they were forcing everyone to subscribe to   
   the VOIP service that they provided or do without.   
      
   Their subscribers were furious.  Apparently, one very bold subscriber   
   made a complaint with the FCC.  No, it was not me.   
      
   The FCC socked that ISP with a nasty fine and very promptly ordered   
   them to unblock those VOIP ports.   
      
   A few days later, they did so.  So everyone was then able to subscribe   
   to the VOIP service of their choice.   
      
   You might try going that route.  But I had a situation where a local   
   phone company was breaking rules about putting foreign listings for   
   subscribers other than their own.  I filed a complaint with the state   
   PSC in New Mexico.  They did nothing [even though I was successful   
   doing that with NC, SC, and GA PSCs when I lived in those states].  I   
   never got my foreign listing in New Mexico.  I always got it in NC,   
   SC, and GA.  But I had to make a complaint with the PSC each time.   
   This was because no one in the business office had a clue that this   
   could be done much less knew how to have it done.   
      
   So I filed a complaint against Centurylink with the FCC.  They sent a   
   complaint to Centurylink.  Centurylink sent a reply saying they   
   weren't required to do it [which is not true].  The FCC closed the   
   case without further action.  I wrote back to the FCC and protested.   
   But they did nothing.   
      
   My point is that today's FCC might not give you the same results that   
   those at the FCC all those years ago gave.   
      
   I have gotten issues like yours resolved by contacting the county   
   franchise office [where I then lived] to make a complaint.  Usually   
   that worked for me until I moved to New Mexico.  The franchise office   
   would not intervene [in Dona Ana county where I then lived].  New   
   Mexico was a very different animal in my humble experience.  .   
      
   But you might give that a try.   
      
   The ultimate solution is to go with a different ISP.  That assumes   
   that there is a second one in your area.  If all else fails, you could   
   go with satellite Internet.   
      
   I do not recommend that approach.  Hamshack Hotline (HH) does not work   
   well on satellite Internet.  I know that because I spoke to someone in   
   South Carolina [who used satellite Internet] via HH.  The quality was   
   terrible.  And I remember reading [on the HH Web site] that they will   
   not provide technical support for those who use satellite Internet.   
   Additionally, the time delay can be quite annoying when using   
   geosynchronous satellites.   
      
   Regulatory oversight by PSCs are failing today as well.  I live in   
   Mesa, Arizona now.  Our neighborhood has frequent power outages.   
   After getting nowhere with SRP (Salt River Project (our local power   
   company)), I wrote a letter to the Arizona Corporation Commission   
   (ACC) (Arizona's equivalent agency that functions as a PSC)   
   documenting the exact dates/times of the outages we had over the last   
   year.  Most of them were within the three month period just prior to   
   when I wrote that letter.   
      
   The ACC responded by saying that SRP was not under their jurisdiction.   
   They did forward a copy of my letter to the SRP Ombudsman office.   
      
   SRP's Ombusdsman responded to me saying they were 'aware of the   
   problem'.  They also said that they were replacing power cables in our   
   neighborhood and surrounding areas.  They said the project would take   
   two years [before we got any relief].  What a joke.   
      
   I email the lady in their Ombudsman's office each time we have a power   
   failure in the neighborhood.  For a while, they kept saying that it   
   would be resolved in two years.   
      
   However, the last time they said it would take *three* more years.   
      
   So for our neighborhood, trying to handle things through regulatory is   
   a complete and total joke.   
      
   Regulatory isn't what it once was.   
      
   I am very near writing our state politicians to see if they can apply   
   some pressure to SRP.   
      
   Rotsa ruck,   
      
      
   							       Fred   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)