Google-AT&T-Apple fight over Net calls draws FCC interest

— -- Why: Consumers who use Android, the Google-developed operating system for wireless devices, can't use Skype, a leading Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service. A pioneer in free Internet calling, Skype allows you to talk as long as you want without draining cellphone minutes.

Android users get Skype Lite, a watered-down version of the original that routes calls over traditional phone networks — not the Internet. As a result, long-distance calls are still cheap or free, but cellphone minutes are gobbled up every time a Skype Lite call is made.

Skype, to some degree, is caught in the middle.

Android "does not support a full-featured version of Skype," Skype told USA TODAY. "In order to make Skype available on Android devices, as well as hundreds of other regular mobile phones, we designed Skype Lite."

In a statement prepared for USA TODAY, Google acknowledged that it "has the ability to filter," or block, VoIP. The search giant said it does that "at the request" of individual operators. Right now, there are just two Android devices in the USA: the G1 and MyTouch, both sold by T-Mobile.

Google's explanation would seem to suggest that T-Mobile requested the block on Skype, but the carrier says that's not the case. "T-Mobile has not asked Google to block that service," says spokesman Joe Farren, referring to original Skype.