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Bill aims to stop dropped calls

A bill has been introduced in the U.S. Senate to stop dropped land-line and mobile phone calls in rural areas. Senator Tim Johnson says the problem of dropped calls is a serious public safety threat – as police dispatchers and doctors have experienced dropped calls in critical situations. Johnson says the Federal Communications Commission, FCC, believes third party “least cost routers” to connect calls is a leading cause of the problem. Johnson says some intermediate providers are not properly completing calls in order to avoid higher access charges with rural telephone networks. He calls that discriminatory.

Johnson’s bill calls for reforms to help end the practice by having voice-providers register with the FCC and “comply with basic service quality standards.”