The history of the dispute over carriers blocking calls to some rural phone exchanges to avoid high fees is somewhat more tangled that what I described in an earlier post.

AT&T spokesman Michael Balmoris points out that, contrary to the assertion of Google?? Richard Whitt, AT&T never requested FCC authority to block calls. It did briefly block calls to some exchanges and, when ordered to resume placing them, sent a request to the FCC that it investigate ??raffic-pumping?by rural carriers. The FCC opened a regulatory proceeding in October, 2007, but has taken no action.