Succeeding in the phone business often involves working around FCC regulations, Siminoff said. A former company he worked for dropped out of the VoIP business after the FCC imposed 911 emergency calling requirements on that industry, he said. But no matter what the government shuts down, there is always a way to make money. For example, there are ways to innovate if the FCC strengthens network neutrality, and other ways to do so if it pulls back its support for the policy, he said.

"The communications business is so big, it's a fire hose," Siminoff said. "Regulation can't stop innovation. When has innovation stopped in America?"