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Reader Comments: 0

VoIP must provide 911 services

Sunday, May 22, 2005 at 16:18 by Laurence Norah

The US Federal Communications Commission has voted that firms providing Voice over IP (VoIP) services must supply their customers with emergency calling capabilities as a mandatory feature of the service.

This vote comes after a number of incidents in which VoIP customers were unable to reach emergency operators after dialling 911. The FCC in it's ruling has stated that being able to contact Emergency services is critical during times of crisis, and whilst it does not wish to overly regulate IP-enabled services, it does not want customers to be unable to access public safety services in times of crisis.

The order only affects VoIP service providers which seek to emulate traditional telephony providers, and does not currently require services such as Instant Messaging or Internet gaming to provide 911 access. VoIP providers have 120 days to implement this order.

Comment # 1 on 22 May 2005 at 17:24 by Anonymous

Makes sense i suppose if you have a voip phone which looks like a normal one it could fool alot of people.

Comment # 2 on 22 May 2005 at 18:14 by Anonymous

VoIP firms should have provided 911 dialling as part of their services.

Comment # 3 on 22 May 2005 at 18:31 by Anonymous

What happens when the client moves to another state or country for that matter. I think we have to get people with VoIP thinking about the local emegency numbers for the area they are in and not 911. Making full 911 capability availiable on VoIP will create greater confusion as clients will think it works when in fact it may not.

Comment # 4 on 22 May 2005 at 19:45 by Anonymous

Have them disclose instead of mandating. What about all the people who don't have home telephones and use mobile phones insead? This does not solve any problem but rather stiffle competition. This is just an attempt by non VoiP telephone businesses to rid of the small guys.

Comment # 5 on 24 May 2005 at 13:48 by Anonymous

VOIP will ultimately take over traditional telephone communication. This is just another step in that direction. Yes, the big telecoms are having to adjust their business models, but this is not some underhanded attempt to kill VOIP. If anything, they are trying to adopt it as it is much less expensive. As such, they would have to offer 911 and any other service currently available on the traditional technology.

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