T-Mobile Blocking Truphone No Surprise

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Would You Let a Minute Stealer On Your Network?

I wouldn’t.

While much of the blogoshpere is up-in-arms over the news Andy Abramson shared with us all about truphone being blocked by T-Mobile UK, I don’t find it surprising…after all, what did they expect.

One of the main points that is argued by proponents of third party Mobile VoIP services, is that access should not be blocked, because the consumer pays for Internet access. But is cable or DSL access the same as mobile Internet access via a cellular service provider? No. It is not the same because Internet access is a value-add to the main service provided by cellular service providers; voice calls. It is not “pure access” in that the main point of your cellular phone is to make cellular voice calls. If the main point of your cellular phone was to access the Internet, then, well, blocking an IP based application, is wrong.

Pure Play Mobile VoIP Providers Will Continue to Face Trouble

Like it or not, mobile Internet access is still treated and viewed differently than regular Internet access. As I have stated before, the future of mobile VoIP lies in the hands of the cellular carriers. The cellular network is still considered “their network”. If they would like to ban the use of certain applications (remember VoIP is just another IP application?) on their network, then they are going to do it…and get away with it.One can not expect any business to let a competitor leverage their infrastructure in order to “steal” their customers.

I am not saying any of this is right, or wrong. I am saying that it is not a surprise, and that I would do the same thing if I were a cellular provider. The fact remains that the consumer must push for the change in how mobile Internet access is viewed, or exercise their right to change cellular providers to one that allows the use of a mobile VoIP service.