Archived from groups: misc.consumers,alt.cellular,alt.cellular.cingular,comp.dcom.voice-over-ip,misc.emerg-services (
More info?)
Hmm, that's going to be an interesting problem to solve, someone using
VoIP through an EV-DO card in a laptop while traveling. Some of us have been
smart enough to keep our plain old telephone service for precisely this
reason.
--
Thomas M. Goethe
"Williams" <c-williams3@lycos.com> wrote in message
news:1116548095.728159.259910@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> Internet Phones Given 911 Deadline
> May 19, 2005
>
> WASHINGTON (AP) -- Internet phone providers were ordered Thursday to
> begin supplying reliable 911 emergency call service after regulators
> heard an anguished Florida woman describe how she was unable to summon
> help to save her dying infant daughter.
>
> The Federal Communication Commission gave companies 120 days to certify
> that their customers will be able to reach an emergency dispatcher when
> they call 911. Also, dispatchers must be able to tell where callers are
> located and the numbers from which they are calling.
>
> Her voice breaking, Cheryl Waller of Deltona, Fla., told the
> commissioners before their vote that ''120 days is seven days longer
> than my daughter lived.'' Julia Waller ''died at 113 days old because I
> can't reach an operator,'' she said.
>
> Waller said she got a recording when she used her Internet phone to
> call 911 after her daughter stopped breathing last March. By the time
> she was able to summon help with a neighbor's phone, the child was
> dead.
>
> FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin, who began a push for the 911 rules soon
> after taking over the agency in March, said such situations are
> ''simply unacceptable.''
>
> ''Anyone who dials 911 has a reasonable expectation that he or she will
> be connected to an emergency operator,'' Martin said.
>
> Internet phone service, known as Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP,
> shifts calls from wires and switches, using computers and broadband
> connections to convert sounds into data and transmit them via the
> Internet.
>
> In many cases, subscribers use conventional phones hooked up to
> high-speed Internet lines.
>
> But unlike traditional phones, which have a fixed address that a 911
> operator can quickly call up, Internet phone service can be mobile.
> Someone with a laptop who signs up for service in Arizona, for example,
> may end up calling 911 for an emergency while on a trip to Boston.
>
> Roughly half the nation's estimated 1.5 million VoIP users are served
> by cable television companies that already provide full-blown 911
> capabilities because they only offer phone service to a fixed location.
>
> The FCC's order requires companies that allow customers to use their
> Internet phones anywhere there is an Internet connection to provide the
> same emergency capability.
>
> The order follow months of finger-pointing and bickering between VoIP
> carriers and the traditional local phone companies that own the network
> connections to the nation's nearly 6,200 ''public safety answer
> points.''
>
> The FCC order, approved by a 4-0 vote, requires local phone companies
> to provide access to their E-911 networks -- those that enable
> emergency operators to identify the location and telephone number of
> the caller -- to any telecommunications carrier.
>
> Just before the FCC issued its order, Vonage Holdings Corp., one of the
> largest VoIP carriers, said it had reached an agreement with BellSouth
> and SBC Communications to purchase E-911 services for its customers.
>
> BellSouth confirmed the deal. A spokesman for SBC said the arrangement
> has not been completed. Vonage reached a similar deal with Verizon last
> week.
>
> John Rego, Vonage's chief financial officer, said arrangements with the
> three companies will enable Vonage to provide E-911 capability to more
> than 75 percent of its customers. He said negotiations are continuing
> with Qwest Communications on a deal to cover the other 25 percent.
>
> ''We've been trying to get this access for a year,'' Rego said. ''We'll
> work as diligently as we can to make this happen in the next 120 days.
> If we don't get there, the FCC will at least be able to see we've made
> a very good faith effort.''
>
> Companies that fail to meet the 120-day deadline would be subject to
> the full range of FCC enforcement actions, including fines and
> cease-and-desist orders.
>
> Under the order, VoIP carriers must provide a way for customers to
> update their location and callback numbers when they travel. Failure to
> update that information would cause an emergency operator to assume the
> call was coming from the last registered location.
>
> The order also requires VoIP carriers to explain to their customers the
> capabilities and limitations of the emergency response service they are
> getting with their Internet phones. Connection to a 911 operator, for
> example, would not be possible for a VOIP customer if there is a power
> failure or loss of Internet connection.
>
> Internet phone service usually is cheaper than traditional service,
> ranging from $20 to $50 per month for an unlimited national calling
> plan. As a result, it has become a rapidly growing industry, something
> federal regulators said they did not want to slow.
>
> But, commissioner Jonathan Adelstein said, ''We cannot let our desire
> to see VoIP proliferate come at the cost of providing the best
> emergency services available today, nor can we afford to take any steps
> backward.''
>
> The order does not apply to other Internet-based providers, such as
> those that offer instant messaging or gaming services that contain
> voice components.
>
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