If you haven’t been keeping up, let us bring you up to speed. Back during the summer, Apple told Google that it couldn’t play with its favorite toy in the whole wide world, the iPhone. Mommy FCC stepped in and asked what was going on. Apple said Google was trying to break its favorite toy. Google cried that Apple wouldn’t let it play with its toy, and AT&T played innocent. Then for some reason, AT&T called Google a doo-doo head, which Google denied. Apple turns around and says it doesn’t want to be friends with Google anymore. Mommy FCC decides that maybe it should keep an eye on Google.

Now AT&T is saying that not only is Google a doo-doo head, but Mommy FCC should check it for cooties as well. That is, the FCC should take a closer look at Google Voice, which it is already investigating.

In the letter (PDF), AT&T counters Google’s claim that Voice only blocks phone sex operators and free conference calling services.

“In fact, Google is blocking calls to, among others, an ambulance service, church, bank, law firm, automobile dealer, day spa, orchard, health clinic, tax preparation service, community center, eye doctor, tribal community college, school, residential consumers, a convent of Benedictine nuns, and the campaign office of a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives,” the letter said.

Wow, that’s a lot of stuff. AT&T later goes on to say that phone networks should be as neutral as Google and the FCC want the internet to be. Which is odd, since phone networks have never been terribly neutral. Case in point, have you ever been charged extra to access a Japanese web site?

The FCC seems to agree. The Washington Post’s Cecilia Kang said that an anonymous FCC source said the inquiry into Google Voice will not consider net neutrality rules, but rather just old-fashioned telecommunications rules.

Oddly enough, AT&T maintains in the letter that it is against net neutrality.

Back in August AT&T admitted, in a letter to the FCC (PDF), to having an agreement with Apple to not create applications that would use their 3G network for VoIP.

It seems odd that AT&T would make this move now, considering the overwhelming strain the iPhone has put on their network. The only reasonable explanation appears to be the increased scrutiny it has received from the Federal Communications Commission in the past few months.

AT&T’s recent FCC problems began when Apple rejected the Google Voice iPhone application. The FCC subsequently launched an inquiry. Apple, Google, and AT&T all responded. Apple denied rejecting the application, saying it was still under review, and added that AT&T had nothing to do with its rejection. AT&T also maintained its innocence. Google placed the blame squarely on Apple’s Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing, saying that he personally rejected the application.

Later came more FCC drama, in the form of new net neutrality proposals that could apply to cellular networks, as well as AT&T’s insistence to the FCC that Google Voice’s call-blocking practices were in violation of the same net neutrality principals Google claims to support.

There’s no doubt that AT&T is feeling pressure from the FCC. This could be an attempt to make a case that net neutrality isn’t necessary, at least on cell networks. And I think it’s a safe guess that there’s plenty going on behind the scenes that the general public isn’t privy to. At least not yet.

Whether Apple will go along with this new arrangement and actually approve a 3G VoIP app is yet to be seen. If they do, it could mean free calls for iPhone owners. Assuming AT&T’s network holds up.

UPDATE: David Pogue of the New York Times confirms that Apple is working to get 3G VoIP apps out as soon as possible.