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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld a decision by the Federal Communications Commission that barred states, including Minnesota, from regulating Internet-based phone services.
A three-judge panel of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the FCC's determination in 2004 that companies like Vonage Holdings Corp. of Edison, N.J., provide an interstate service that puts them outside state control.
Vonage uses what's called Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, which involves converting the sound of a voice into packets of data and reassembling them into sound at the other end of the call. Customers can make the calls almost anywhere a broadband Internet connection is available, for usually a flat monthly charge.
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