Posted on 07/21/2005 2:17:14 PM PDT by Mad Dawgg
The FCC is requiring VoIP service providers to obtain acknowledgement from customers that they understand the current limitations of their provider's E911 service.
The requirement is to be fulfilled by July 29. That's a week from tomorrow, you know?
According to an article in telephony news site Voxilla, some service providers are undecided whether or not any subscribers who do not comply should have their accounts temporarily interrupted until they do. Packet8 spokesperson Joan Citelli says the company will cut off subscribers who don't comply with an acknowledgement by then.
The article notes that Vonage and VoicePulse reps haven't decided, and have asked the FCC for clarification on whether they will be required to cut off non-respondents.
Meanwhile, VoIP providers are doing their best to guilt-trip subscribers into complying with the FCC's acknowledgment edict.
I got a letter from Vonage, one of my VoIP carriers. It said in part:
Dear Valued Vonage Customer,
Recently we've sent you notifications about the important differences between our 911 Dialing feature and traditional 911. Even if you have already activated 911, due to a recently announced FCC 911 ruling we are required to ensure that you acknowledge your understanding of these differences. To continue to provide you with premium Vonage service, please Click Here to view a notice on our 911 Dialing and acknowledge that you have read and understand the information. Please do so now as failure to do so may affect your Vonage service.
Please note, if you have multiple Vonage accounts you must acknowledge that you have read and understand the 911 Dialing notice for each account separately.
To determine which account this is in reference to we have included your account information below.
I also received a voice mail message from Vonage, telling me to comply (which I have). Fellow VoIP blogger Tom Keating apparently got one, too. He made an MP3 of it, which he's linked to here.
Readers, have you received similar letters from your VoIP provider? If you have, send them along (leaving out personally identifiable info such as tel and account number). I'll post them here.
We would like to know because we are considering getting Vonage.
Woo-hoo, woo-hoo-hoo....
Who needs 911?
Maybe it's because I live in a small community, but I can't imagine calling 911 instead of the actual emergency department I need...programmmed in my telephone.
BTW, I'm interested in Vonage.
The fact that an IP phone does not have a fixed, specific location tied to a particular wire going to a particular house means that the E911 calls may or may not cause the display of the correct address on the police dispatcher's screen.
Are those numbers posted above every telephone in the house? What about guests from out of town who might or might not know how to access your programmed numbers?
By the way, I have Vonage and it is great. 27 bucks to call all over the US and Canada is a pretty good deal. They even have good foreign rates.
Vonage Commercial music.
"People do stupid things, like expecting to pay less for phone service but have the 911 still work."
You've never seen their "stupid people do stupid things" commercials?
No, that's not the problem at all. Vonage knows the address of the subscriber. The problem is that Vonage does not maintain a local switch office in each neighborhood like the local Telco does, so Vonage does not have direct connection to the literally thousands of 911 dispaches all across the country. They have problems with their data base having the proper contact information for each community.
The problem isn't that you can't have 911 or e911. Either an analog telephone adapter (ATA) or a "broadband router" (not that they actually route) that has a foreign exchange station (FXS) port (your analog 2wire phone system) can dial 911. And in all or most areas you are allowed by law to have a lifeline landline from the ILEC (Incumbent local exchange carrier; i.e. Verizon, Bell South, etc)free of charge.
The problem is the wording of the requirement. It states (or did) that the VoIP (VoIPEC? :^P )providors, such as Vonage, have to provide it WHEREVER you use the VoIP phone. You can log in from a computer anywhere on the net (with sufficient access and bandwidth) and place a call from your 'phone'. See the difference?
In fact, you would be foolish to run the VoIP without the FXS from your ATA (it will cost you more as an ATA with FXS isn' as in high demand ... yet). Foolish if you knew. Most people don't know or find out.
All I know is I filled out the 911 forms online before our Vonage box even got here and never submitted anything more. I just clicked the link and it says I already fulfilled the requirement.
We have had it for about five months, and love it. We were using Talk America's basic service for $15 a month and paying $40 in taxes and fees. Now we pay the actual $15 and the money
we aren't spending in fees pays for my cell phone.
This is about the Telecom lobby using the government to try to squash the competiton.
How about personal responsibility? I called 911 once for a medical emergency and the ambulance crew couldn't find my place, even with the street number in large letters in front of the house. I put the patient in my car then called EMS back and told them to not bother next time. They couldn't find their own butt on a straight road.
I would much rather deal with local than county wide.
Dear Packet8 Subscriber,
In accordance with the recent Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Order regarding Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) enhanced 911 (E911) services, we would like to take this opportunity to provide you with the following important information regarding the Packet8 E911 service. Though Packet8 E911 service is currently an optional feature, it will soon be a required element of your service plan and subscribers must be made aware of the limitations of calling 911 from their Internet phone service.
Please review the content of this email in its entirety and, when you have finished, click on the link below to let us know you have read and understand the features and limitations of Packet8 E911 service. This is a requirement by the FCC and, without your acknowledgement, we will no longer be able to offer you Packet8 internet phone service.
Also, please note that Packet8's E911 service applies only to the United States E911 system. If you are using the Packet8 service outside of the United States in a country where the calling code 9-1-1 is used to reach emergency services, Packet8's E911 service will not work in these foreign jurisdictions.
As explained in the Terms and Conditions applicable to your service, Packet8 E911 service already mimics the E911service provided by traditional landline phone companies. However, we are required by FCC rules to send you this additional notice that, under certain circumstances, when you dial 911 from a phone connected to the Packet8 service, E911 service may not be available, or the E911 service may be in some way limited by comparison to traditional 911 service. These circumstances are:
· The relocation of your Packet8 broadband phone device (DTA 310, BPA 410, Packet8 VideoPhone and Packet8 Virtual Office phones/adapters) to a physical address other than that which you provided when you activated your account.
· Instances where a subscribers broadband phone device fails or is not configured properly.
· An electrical power outage, broadband internet service outage or suspension/disconnection of Packet8 service due to billing or other issues.
· A delay in the provision of Packet8 service ("dial tone") at the
physical address provided at the time of account activation, or at any other
location to which you may later move the Packet8 broadband phone device, due to the time required to process automatic number and location information to be provided to local emergency service operators. FCC regulations, effective 11/28/05, require that 911 calls be transmitted, along with automatic number identification and automatic location information, to the appropriate local public safety answering point. Automatic number identification and location information is typically populated into E911 databases approximately seven (7) days after you provide it to Packet8. However, no guarantees can be made that automatic number and location information will be available to emergency service operators and your service activated (or reactivated at a new location) within this schedule.
· Instances where the local emergency service operator receiving Packet8 E911 emergency service calls may not have a system configured for E911 services or be able to capture and/or retain automatic number or location information.
· Due to technical factors in network design and in the event of network congestion on the Packet8 network, there is a possibility that a Packet8 E911 call may produce a busy signal or experience unexpected answering wait times and/or take longer to answer than 911 calls placed via traditional, legacy, circuit-switched telephone networks.
· The incorrect identification (at the time of activation) of the actual location where the Packet8 equipment will be located. If the Packet8 subscriber fails to accurately report the actual location where the Packet8 equipment will be located at the time of activation of the service, Packet8 E911 communications may not be directed to the correct local emergency operator.
Additional information about Packet8 E911 service and the conditions necessary for its proper functioning can be found at www.packet8.net.
So that we may continue to offer you Packet8 Internet phone service, please click on one of the following choices. Failure to do so will result in an interruption of your Packet8 phone service.
Click here to submit your response (you must first login at the Packet8 homepage)
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
Regards,
Packet8 Customer Service
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