Paul Kapustka has done the sleuth-work to figure out how and why Futurephone got shut down. He got nothing more than “no comment” from the company itself, but discovered that AT&T has been slapped with a $2 million termination charge from the Superior Telephone Coop and has filed suit to recover it. AT&T’s contention is that the Iowa LECs providing the long distance service are merely a midpoint, and not the termination point at all.Â
Nice work, Paul! One wonders if this will impact other services depending on LEC termination charges for their revenue stream, like FreeConferenceCall.com, for instance. In that case the call actually is terminated in Iowa.
Alec Saunders is the Vice President of Developer Relations for BlackBerry make Research in Motion. This is his personal blog, with his personal viewpoints. Prior to this Alec was the CEO and co-founder of Calliflower — the easiest way to hold a meeting, online, on a conference call, or on the go. A double-decade veteran of product management and marketing, he spent nine years at Microsoft where he helped launch Windows 95, the first two versions of Internet Explorer, the Universal Plug and Play initiative, the push into home markets, opt-in email marketing and what might well go down in history as the very first direct email list ever.
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I guess it was fun while it lasted. I was approached a while ago with a similar business proposal, but never continued with it or signed the NDA. It’ll be interesting to see what happens and if Futurephone and the telco get their $2 million.
If Futurephone has any money at all at this stage, they’re going to have to blow it all on lawyers. I wonder if other telcos paid their bills?
- Jason