Judge: T-Mobile cannot block VoIP calls

So, you might be a little confused right now. After all, T-Mobile has recently rolled out its own VoIP service, HotSpot @Home. Ah, but if you’ll remember back to late June, we did mention that T-Mobile in particular wasn’t being very friendly with Truphone, a British mobile VoIP operator. In fact, T-Mobile had gone as far as blocking all incoming calls from Truphone, forcing the VoIP operator to take T-Mobile to court. Well, the ruling is in. Yes, yes, Truphone won. So now T-Mobile has until this Monday, the 23rd, to cease blocking and begin routing calls to and from Truphone. This is a significant victory in our eyes, since we’d love to see this kind of service in the US. Oh, wait, there is such a service…and it’s run by T-Mobile. Anyway, Truphone has a neat-o blog up, which gave us some details and quotes from the ruling. Without this website, we might not have known that it was the “first time that interim relief has been awarded against a mobile network operator under the Competition Act.” See, not living in the UK, we have no bloody idea what the Competition Act is. But now we have some vague idea. Thanks, Truphone! Better yet, we can get words straight from James Tagg, Truphone’s CEO:

“The injunction is good news not only for Truphone but for every company trying to develop internet-era services and for every consumer wanting freedom of choice and lower prices. We are determined to bring better-value mobile calls, text messages and other innovative services to mobile phone users, and it’s right that we should not be prevented from doing so.”

We know that’s PR-speak, but it’s still the right kind of message to be sending. We commend Truphone for their persistence in moving forward with a useful product. Keep in mind that this is merely an interim ruling, much like AT&T received a favorable interim ruling against NASCAR. In both cases, full trials are scheduled. To us, it appears Truphone will emerge the victors here. T-Mobile may have a solid case — and lord knows they’re paying their lawyers a bundle — but we think that the long-term benefit of Truphone’s service is too great to stifle. Think about it: wouldn’t you pay, say, $20 per month to make WiFi calls? That seems more than worth it to us. Plus, that might enable you to reduce your cell phone plan minutes — or the prepaid minutes you buy — thus saving you even more money. And we like money. [Truphone press office] via [ZDNet]]]>