Google Voice Expands Amid Fed Inquiry

Google (GOOG) is moving full speed ahead on its remarkable Google Voice service, strongly suggesting that its users invite their friends and family to give the feature a whirl. If you use Google Voice, soon a friendly note will pop into your account, offering a quick and easy way to nag your friends into setting up accounts of their own. ZDNet blogger Garett Rogers claims that all this sounds a little familiar: "This is pretty much the exact same type of invitation system that Gmail used when it was first launched."

That's a pretty bold attitude for a company that just fell behind the crosshairs of yet another federal investigation. On Friday, the Federal Communication Commission notified Google that it was launching an inquiry into Google Voice's alleged policy of blocking calls to the sticks, where local phone call charges are higher and eat into the company's bottom line.

A word about Google Voice: It's pretty damn cool. Just ask Farhad Manjoo. You get to route your cell, home, and work phones through a single Google phone number, receiving calls to your phone regardless of which number your friends and colleagues dialed. You get voice mail messages transcribed and sent to you in written form. And you get long-distance calls dirt-cheap. And that's where AT&T (T), a potential rival in the long-distance market, gets upset.

Many moons ago, you may recall, Apple (AAPL) refused to clear the Google Voice app for its iPhone; many people speculated that Apple did so to protect its partner AT&T from competition, and the feds started an investigation.

But two can play at that game, AT&T declared. Federal regulations prohibit companies like AT&T from blocking those pricey rural calls, and the phone giant declared that the law applies to Google as well. In fact, it's AT&T that sicced the feds on the search giant. Google representatives replied that the so-called "common carrier" laws don't apply to Google Voice, because it's a free Web-based app, not a traditional phone service.

Some have argued that the country's telecommunication laws are hopelessly out of date, and inadequate to the task of regulating the industry when new gadgets like Google Voice show up. Nonetheless, the feds will do their best to sort this all out.