Dost my ears deceive me? Is this true? Ern -------- INCLUDED MESSAGE FCC Asked to Stop Net Phones A trade association of long distance phone service carriers has asked the Federal Communications Commission to halt companies from selling software and hardware products that enable use of the Internet for long distance voice services. In a statement from Washington, the America's Carriers Telecommunication Association says it "submits that it is incumbent upon the FCC to exercise jurisdiction over the use of the Internet for unregulated interstate and international telecommunications services." A growing number of companies sell such software with ancillary hardware for transmitting and receiving voice over the Net, which, says the statement, "creates the ability to 'by-pass' local, long distance and international carriers and allows for calls to be made for virtually 'no cost.'" "For example," adds the ACTA statement, "online service providers generally charge users around $10 for five hours of access and then around $3 for each additional hour. Five hours equals 300 minutes, divided by $10 is 3.3 cents per minute. The average residential long distance telephone call costs about 22 cents per minute or seven times as much." Long-distance and international telephone service carriers must be approved by the FCC to operate and must file tariffs before both the FCC and state public service commissions. All of these requirements are stipulated in the Communications Act of 1934 and the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Says ACTA, "Technology may once again be surpassing government's ability to control its proper use. However, the misuse of the Internet as a way to 'by-pass' the traditional means of obtaining long distance service could result in a significant reduction of the Internet's ability to transport its ever enlarging amount of data traffic." Specifically, ACTA petitions the FCC to define the type of permissible communications that may be effected over the Internet.