Comcast has filed a motion with the FCC to dismiss the complaint against the company filed by modem maker Zoom Telephonics.
Zoom alleges that Comcast's process for testing cable modems it allows to connect to the network was an "unreasonable, irrelevant, time-consuming and costly regime."
Zoom argues that the process is not about preventing harm to Comcast's network. Instead, said Zoom, it is about discouraging retail sales of modems in competition to Comcast's leased equipment.
According to a copy of the petition to the FCC, filed Tuesday (Dec. 7), Comcast reserved the right to address the merits at a later date if the FCC does not dismiss the complaint, but said that it suffers from core procedural flaws that should deep-six it before any weight of its merits.
Those flaws, says Comcast, include that Zoom failed to meet the requirements that its information be accurate and complete, that it outline the steps taken to resolve the problem before bringing it to the FCC, and that there is a "duty of candor" that Zoom has failed to meet by not providing relevant correspondence about Comcast's explanation of its testing procedures, as well as Comcast's offer of what it calls a "rapid path to self-certify its modem at no additional charge."
Comcast says it also offered a "comprehensive set of proposals" to address Zoom's concerns about testing, but that Zoom did not respond, "electing instead to file this complaint the next business day and failing even to inform the commission of these material facts, much less append the relevant and most recent communications between the parties."
