North American Network Operators Group Date Prev | Date Next | Date Index | Thread Index | Author Index | Historical Re: FCC To Require 911 for VoIP
Speaking on Deep Background, the Press Secretary whispered: > > > Here's one vendor: http://www.tonecommander.com/e911/How%20PBX%20ANI-LINK%20Works.htm > > I think this scheme isn't going to work for VOIP. Well, yea.. It's not. > I think that VOIP phones will either ultimately be exempted, or required > to have GPS (or triangulation or some other scheme) ...that might work....sometimes... > Or maybe we'll just start to see red phones next to the fire-alarm boxes. Alas, Gamewell fire boxes are all but dead. I don't know of any city still running them. Too bad, because it was a dirt-simple technology that Just Plain Worked. Looks like they were first deployed in the 1850's. Oops; NYC may still have some: http://www.forgotten-ny.com/STREET%20SCENES/Fire%20Alarms%20page/Alarms.html. And if http://plaws.net/fire/list.shtml is accurate, much of Mass. Hmm. OT explantion: There was a loop from the fire alarm office around the city {or fraction thereof}, through each box, and back to the office. One end had +130v {or so}; the other had -130. When you pulled a box, it split the loop in half, and grounded both halves in a sequence set on a spring-driven wheel ("3 2 5 PAUSE 3 2 5"). Think of that as the static IP address... At the office, 2 pen registers recorded the loop current. If two boxes (say 325 and 326) got pulled; 325 showed on the one chart, 326 on the other. We might have them still in wide use today if not for social changes; the false-alarm rate is many times higher than voice calls, and most departments gave up. I think there are NANOG lessons in there. Sometimes, a less than 100% optimal technology is good enough to outlast many a "newer better faster sexier" one... -- A host is a host from coast to [email protected] & no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433 is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433
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