Traffic Pumping Means More Network Congestion for Wireless Carriers, Connectiv Says
So-called “traffic pumping” costs U.S. wireless carriers $190 million annually, consulting firm Connectiv Solutions said in a report to be released Tuesday. Carriers pay in other ways as well, the report noted, saying increased traffic as a result of traffic pumping also means more network congestion and a decline in network quality. The president of a leading conferencing company disputed the findings.
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"With unlimited domestic long distance becoming a standard industry offering for wireless and wireline carriers, ‘free,’ domestic conference bridges and adult chat lines have exploded across the country,” the report said. “Some of these numbers are homed to more rural domestic locations where the terminating carrier is allowed to charge substantially higher access fees. While, advertised as ‘free’ to the end subscriber, these bridges and chat numbers are not free for Service Providers. In most cases, Service Providers cannot pass these expenses to their end subscribers because of ‘unlimited’ long distance plans. Currently Service Providers are absorbing these expenses, but as the costs increase, they may need to review options to reduce exposure.”
The study found that 36 percent of the calls terminating to potential traffic pumping carriers originated in California, New York, Illinois, Texas and Maryland. The calls went primarily to three states -- Iowa (39 percent), Minnesota (37 percent) and South Dakota (12 percent). Connectiv said it did not receive outside funding for the report.
Ross Buntrock of Arent Fox, who represents Free Conferencing Corp., questioned in an interview the value of the study. “There’s no author,” Buntrock said. “If you've got a question about some findings there would be no one to talk to.” Buntrock said the points in the study “parrot” arguments by wireless carriers, but the study doesn’t provide numbers to justify the total costs cited.
"A conference call saves the consumer money and time … and it saves wireless carriers probably multiples of $190 million,” said David Erickson, president of Free Conferencing in a separate interview. Erickson said wireless carriers are responsible for many of the problems cited in the study. “If they [wireless carriers] priced appropriately they would want as much traffic as they could deliver,” he said. “The consumer would be able to discern the difference between a high-cost area and a low-cost area."