What’s the Hang Up? The Future of VoIP Regulation and Taxation in New Hampshire

Alice in Austria wishes to call her friend Bob in Boston, using a Boston area code to avoid charges for an international call. Using VoIP, Alice may initiate her call from any location in Austria where she may find Internet access. Once Alice connects to the Internet, she can transmit her call with the aid of a VoIP service provider, such as Skype. In order to hear and communicate with Bob, Alice can rely on a microphone and a headset that she can plug into her computer. Through VoIP, not only may Alice carry on a telephone conversation, but most service providers also allow her to record conversations and manage other information, such as voice mail. The rise of Voice over Internet Protocol (“VoIP”) services “means nothing less than the death of the traditional telephone business,” as the ability to make free calls over a high-speed Internet connection in the future “undermines the existing pricing model for telephony.” This disruptive, convergent technology is blurring the boundary between Internet services and telephone services because VoIP functions like the traditional telephone system, but travels as ones and zeros through a broadband Internet connection. As a result, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) has questioned whether to classify VoIP as an information service, generally free from FCC regulation under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, or as a telecommunication service, subject to a comprehensive regulatory regime and common carrier obligations. This note discusses why most VoIP services, with the exception of phone-to-phone Internet Protocol (“IP”) telephony, should be classified as information services and, as such, should remain free from state taxation – focusing specifically on the taxation in New Hampshire. Part II focuses on the technology of VoIP and how it differs from traditional telephony. Part III discusses the distinction between information and telecommunication services in the Telecommunications Act of 1996, whether VoIP may qualify as Internet access in light of the Internet Tax Freedom Act (“ITFA”) of 1998, and the federal regulation of VoIP. Finally, Part IV addresses the debate over taxation of VoIP in New Hampshire and discusses why VoIP services should not yet be taxed by the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration in light of federal law and the best interests of local businesses and consumers

Open internet access to CATV networks: experiences from the EU

Broadband over CATV networks is flourishing in the EU and in some Member States it even has already made significant impact on the retail broadband market. Our article aims to provide an overview of the regulatory treatment of broadband over CATV under the electronic communications regulatory framework. For this purpose, we carry out a survey of the different approaches within the 27 EU Member States. Based on the comments of the European Commission within the EU consultation procedure, our observation is that open Internet access obligations upon CATV operators remains limited. --access regulation,CATV,broadband

Pembuatan Jaringan Pabx Dengan Sistem Voip Menggunakan Sistem Operasi Linux Trixbox

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) merupakan teknologi yang digunakan untuk mengirimkan percakapan secara digital melalui jaringan berbasis IP serperti jaringan internet, Wide Area Network (WAN), atau Local Area Network (LAN). VoIP telah digunakan secara global, terutama pada Private Branch eXchange atau disebut juga Private Business eXchange (PBX) dimana dibutuhkan sarana komunikasi antara telepon bisnis yang terpisah dari Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). Meskipun implementasi VoIP mengarah untuk menggantikan sistim PSTN yang ada sekarang, karena kekurangan-kekurangannya yaitu: delay, jitter, pakcket loss, keamanan dan echo, VoIP masih belum bisa menggantikan sistim PSTN yang ada sekarang. Karena hal ini memunculkan perlunya integrasi antara VoIP dengan PSTN. Tugas akhir ini untuk mengimplementasikan sistem integrasi antara VoIP dan PSTN serta merancang dan membuat perangkat lunak pendukungnya. Dalam penerapannya dibutuhkan sebuah perangkat keras yang menjembatani antara jaringan VoIP dengan PSTN yang biasanya disebut sebagai VoIP-PSTN gateway atau untuk lebih singkatnya disebut sebagai VoIP Gateway saja. Trixbox akan digunakan sebagai server VoIP dan perangkat lunak pendukungnya akan dibangun menggunakan basis web. Untuk menunjang web ini akan digunakan Trixbox Realtime yang memungkinkan agar konfigurasi Trixbox dibaca secara realtime dari database. Berdasarkan hasil uji coba, Server trixbox diberikan penambahan modul VoIP gateway agar dapat melakukan panggilan menuju telpon analog atau dari telpon analog menuju VoIP. Pengujian panggilan menuju telpon analog dilakukan dengan menekan ‘9’ yang digunakan sebagai outbound routes kemudian dilanjutkan dengan menekan nomor yang dituju dan berhasil dengan baik. Pengujian panggilan dari telpon analog menuju VoIP dilakukan dengan menekan nomor telpon analog yang dihubungkan dengan VoIP gateway kemudian akan menuju nomor extension yang dituju dan berhasil dengan baik

Economic Development Potential through IP Telephony for Namibia

IP telephony, economic growth, telecommunications, ICT, Granger causality, Namibia

Inactivation of a CRF-dependent amygdalofugal pathway reverses addiction-like behaviors in alcohol-dependent rats.

The activation of a neuronal ensemble in the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) during alcohol withdrawal has been hypothesized to induce high levels of alcohol drinking in dependent rats. In the present study we describe that the CeA neuronal ensemble that is activated by withdrawal from chronic alcohol exposure contains ~80% corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) neurons and that the optogenetic inactivation of these CeA CRF+ neurons prevents recruitment of the neuronal ensemble, decreases the escalation of alcohol drinking, and decreases the intensity of somatic signs of withdrawal. Optogenetic dissection of the downstream neuronal pathways demonstrates that the reversal of addiction-like behaviors is observed after the inhibition of CeA CRF projections to the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) and that inhibition of the CRFCeA-BNST pathway is mediated by inhibition of the CRF-CRF1 system and inhibition of BNST cell firing. These results suggest that the CRFCeA-BNST pathway could be targeted for the treatment of excessive drinking in alcohol use disorder