Operators of free conference-call lines join opposition to Google Voice

We last reported on Google Voice's controversial practice of blocking calls to rural exchanges earlier this week, but now some of the companies that practice "traffic pumping" are joining AT&T in its opposition to Google's practice. The latest opposition comes from opertaos of free conference-call lines that divert heavy traffic to little-used rural exchanges that charge more money to phone providers to complete calls, Kim Hart of The Hill reports.

"Google shouldn’t be able to tell consumers where they can call and where they can’t," David Erickson, president of the California-based Free Conferencing Corp., told Hart. Free conference call lines make up a sizable portion of those numbers that are still blocked, Hart reports. Erickson says his company, FreeConferenceCall.com, uses rural numbers to direct traffic to "underused parts of the telephone network." President Obama used FreeConferenceCall.com to place "millions of minutes" worth of calls leading up to the 2009 election.

Erickson says controversial "traffic pumping" to rural exchanges isn't nefarious, just good business practice. "The idea that Google’s pricing problems should fall upon the FCC to fix is a bit too much to ask," he said in a letter to the FCC this week. "We need to enforce the rules and laws that are in place, and Google needs to stop acting like silence from the FCC means Google can do whatever it likes." (Read more)