FCC adopts rules to prevent dropped rural calls

The Federal Communications Commission Monday new rules to help solve the problem of dropped calls in rural areas. New rules "require phone companies to collect and report data on the number of rural calls that go through. The rules also offer incentives for phone service providers to improve their service," Edward Wyatt reports for The New York Times. Mignon Clyburn, acting FCC chairwoman, said before the new rules passed by a 3-0 vote, “We’ve heard about calls from doctors to nursing homes not going through, that calls to businesses aren’t getting completed, and that rural consumers are frustrated when their friends and family are not able to reach them.”

As part of the new rules, "The commission will now require telephone companies to record, retain and report data on rural call completion — information that to date has rarely been collected or disclosed.

Phone companies also will be forbidden from transmitting an audible ring to a caller’s handset when the number at the other end of the line is not actually ringing," Wyatt writes. "The FCC rules include a provision allowing providers to request a waiver to reduce their data collection requirements, provided they limit to two the number of intermediate phone companies they use to route their calls. Routing calls through multiple phone companies increases the chances that calls will be lost." (Read more)