[AusNOG] Telstra Wi-Fi calling on our network.

[Paul Wilkins]

I think this is a truly complex issue, which as it would require the wisdom
of Solomon  to resolve, probably puts it beyond most people's caring or the
actual extent of the problem. Because it's available to the telcos to argue
it's done to improve service quality, you'd really need to prove that there
existed systematic cost shifting.

But it does raise salient questions of monopoly power. For one thing, it's
not the user that opts for these alternate routes, it's the telco, and
their ability to dictate firmware. This is probably not the kind of
behaviour government policy makers and the ACCC envisage in the role of the
national carrier.

Not only do I think policy makers and the ACCC have bigger fish to fry, but
over time the current distinction between voice and internet traffic may
become less distinct. Which turns on questions of net neutrality, which is
still very much an emerging debate, and realistically will be resolved in
the US, and Australia will have little option but to follow suit. It's the
consequence of being a branch economy, that policy and technical outcomes
are put beyond the reach of national sovereignty.

Kind regards

Paul Wilkins

On Sat, 12 Oct 2019 at 16:42, Bradley Amm <brad at bradleyamm.com> wrote:

> Well if you have your IPWAN in NZ and the internet endpoint in Australia
> you can ;)
>
> Get Outlook for iOS <https://aka.ms/o0ukef>
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* AusNOG <ausnog-bounces at lists.ausnog.net> on behalf of Matthew
> Moyle-Croft <mmc at mmc.com.au>
> *Sent:* Saturday, October 12, 2019 1:29 pm
> *To:* John Edwards; mike at ozonline.com.au
> *Cc:* AusNOG
> *Subject:* Re: [AusNOG] Telstra Wi-Fi calling on our network.
>
> FYI:
>
> Telstra and Optus do NOT allow WIFI calling while overseas. Which sucks.
> I have US sim that does and it works fine so it’s a business not technical
> decision.
>
> WIFI calling is such a tiny amount of data compared to almost all other
> uses it seems dumb to think about blocking it. Especially when people rely
> so much on mobile and a lot of in-building calling can suck pretty hard.
> (Heck, my multi-AP, Ubiquiti wifi at home gives me better in-home coverage
> than any of the telcos).
>
> MMC
>
> On 12 Oct 2019, at 1:54 pm, John Edwards <jaedwards at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Every bit of territory that your "sworn competitor" gives up by putting
> call data on your network instead of their private mobile network is
> territory that it may never get back.
>
> Imagine what WiFi calling is doing for International roaming revenue if
> every call now looks like a local origination.
>
> Rejoice in this scenario and encourage a world where a 20 billion dollar
> LTE network or 100 year monopoly are not prerequisites to making
> mobile calls - it's one of the few places where you might get a level
> playing field for telecommunications services.
>
> John
>
>
> On Sat, 12 Oct 2019 at 09:44, <mike at ozonline.com.au> wrote:
>
>> Hi All,
>>
>> So Telstra mobile services increasingly seem to revert to using
>> Wifi calling even in the presence of decent signal strength.
>>
>> If I were a CDN wanting to connect to Telstra IP,
>> they'd charge me for injecting traffic into their network or for transit,
>> and yet Telstra is injecting traffic into our our network to carry
>> some of their cell traffic, without payment or agreement.
>>
>> Now you might say, sure, but we're doing that for our customers not
>> for Telstra. But Telstra themselves will charge CDNs for delivering
>> content
>> to Telstra's customers, something Telstra's end customers are presumably
>> already paying for. So yeah, we know in this industry what is good for the
>> goose is not always good for the gander.
>>
>> Another point, Telstra, who are our sworn competitors, are using our
>> network for Wifi calling to supplement their mobile network. Presumably
>> this use of their competitor's networks reduces their capital investment
>> requirement and supports their revenue stream by raising the
>> quality of their coverage. Hence Telstra's use of their competitor's
>> networks
>> enhances their ability to dominate the industry, again without
>> any kind of settlement to their competitor ISPs.
>>
>> Thoughts?
>>
>> Also, anyone have any thoughts about what ACL one might put in place
>> to block wifi calling if one was of a mind to?
>>
>> Michael
>> Australia On Line.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>
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