North American Network Operators Group Date Prev | Date Next | Date Index | Thread Index | Author Index | Historical Re: Vonage SUED over not clearly informing customers re 911 service lacking
On 2005-03-24-14:02:26, "Network.Security" <[email protected]> wrote: > I'm not saying (nor do I hope the PSAPs are either) that Vonage > should cease and desist service because of the 911 issues, rather > greater partnership needs to be initiated to insure that VoIP > service and POTS have the same priority for 911 [...] Actually, I believe it would be a step in the right direction. I've had an opportunity to use a CLEC-resold version of the Intrado service, which I believe is what Vonage uses to provide its customers with "911" capabilities. Intrado's job is not an easy one, and given the technical, regulatory, and demand-related obstacles they face, they do a decent job at what they do. (With that said, accidents can happen, mostly in the form of the LEC neglecting to contact Intrado and inform them of a subscriber's address, or Intrado neglecting to enter that information in the database, and there's no real way to detect this shy of placing test calls to 911, but I digress...) Rather, the problem we face is that VoIP, despite working "good enough" 99% of the time, is susceptible to failure modes above and beyond POTS: loss of power and/or IP connectivity, to name a couple. The likelihood of these failure modes surfacing in the event of a fire, flood, theft, or other event requiring a 911 dispatch, is a non-trivial concern. What Vonage (or any operator in their position really) should do is tell its customers, in no uncertain terms, that their service does not exist as a replacement for a land line, and to keep a cellular or POTS phone available for use in case of an emergency. And if a subscriber chooses to dial 911 anyway, present them with either a reorder tone, or a recording instructing them to hang up and proceed to the nearest land/cell phone. Of course, the likelihood of this happening out of moral responsibility, and without any -- dare I say -- federal mandate, is unfortunately slim, and goes against the way these services are presently marketed to consumers... My $0.02, -a
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