How soon for e911 + Very Helpful first call to support.

Posts: 11 · Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2005 2:50 pm Post subject:

Something doesn't sound right here. I am in Dallas Texas, and have the E911 service. Like you said you get through pretty fast. I did not ask the guy if he had my address though. If you think about it, you dial E911 you can always give them your address when they answer the phone.

Posts: 482 · Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2005 2:50 pm Post subject:

kenn10 wrote:

Its all the people who like to let the government do the thinking for them. When in doubt, let the government handle it so you don't have to be burdened with thinking. To them, not having the local 10-digit emergency number posted is the governments fault or the fault of Vonage for not providing E911.

Come on, man. I've got children. It's my job to think about what's best for them. If my wife and I aren't comfortable posting a list of ten-digit numbers all over the house, that's our choice. Don't make it sound like we're whiny pinkos who can't be burdened by thinking...far from it. Vonage is either right for our family or it's not. That's our choice to make, so please quit the insults.

Maybe you don't have kids. If it's just you and your girlfriend or whatever, then I'm sure e911 isn't that big a deal to you. But why don't you try to look at it from my perspective?

My children are young. It's not likely that we will ever need to call 911, but we've done it once before when my youngest was choking on a sticker. She was fine, but when seconds count, you just don't want anything to go wrong--like being put on hold because your call came in on the "non-emergency" queue.

Also, what if something happened to my wife during the day when she's home with the kids, and my daughter had to call 911? Kids are taught at school to dial 911, and I can tell them here's a list of ten-digit numbers to call if this or that happens, but expecting someone to assess an emergency situation and determine which number is the most appropriate to call is expecting an awful lot out of a young child, and under the worst conditions. Then they need to be able to provide the address...and unfortunately, our street name is one of the worst I've ever heard. Every single time I give it to someone, I have to spell it out for them. So my young children could have problems with that, also.

Now factor into the mix that there are times when other people are in my home who aren't familiar with Voip and the 911 situation. I've got to educate my parents, the in-laws, my sister, my cousin, the babysitter...all of those people could be there with my children while my wife and I are gone. Those are all factors which people without children won't have to worry about.

Personally, I think we may keep Vonage, even with the current e911 situation. I'm looking into what it takes to keep my POTS line active just for 911 and hooking that line up to a 911-only cordless phone for emergency use. And I'm not blaming Vonage for the situation, I'm taking responsibility for protecting my family.

Like I said, it's my job to think of everything I can to take care of my children. Calling people like me "people who don't want to be burdened by thinking" simply because I'm not entirely comfortable with Vonage's current 911 offering is narrowminded and insulting.

Posts: 482 · Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2005 2:57 pm Post subject:

AirJunky wrote:

I chose to run with Vonage & have 2 cell phones in our home as backup. Between the cells & the regular 911, we decided that was more than enough to warrant changing over. Anything short of accepting that is just b1tching.

That's great if you're comfortable with that decision. I'm honestly trying to find some comfort, too. But if I ultimately decide that it's not the best solution for my family, it's not "b1tching," it's just a personal decision.

There's more than one answer here, and what works for you (or what works for me) might not be right for someone else. That seems like a pretty simple concept.

Posts: 70 · Full Forum Member Joined: Jun 17, 2004 Posts: 70

ToddlerTN wrote:

There's more than one answer here, and what works for you (or what works for me) might not be right for someone else. That seems like a pretty simple concept.

So thats why we should all go to a third party forum & complain that Vonage service, that is clearly printed out on their website, does not meet my criteria. Doing your homework before you put the lives of your family at risk is a simple concept.

Posts: 482 · Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2005 3:20 pm Post subject:

"Doing my homework" is exactly what I'm doing. I learned as much as I possibly could by reading before I signed up. I still have my BellSouth line. I wanted to get the Vonage unit so I could test the service for myself before making a final decision, and I'm still not 100% sure what that will be.

Who is complaining? I'm not complaining. If I decide not to go with Vonage, it won't be Vonage's fault. I'm just trying to weigh the pros and cons. Why would you insult someone who is just trying to make the best decision possible?

Posts: 206 · Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2005 3:37 pm Post subject:

AirJunky wrote:

ToddlerTN wrote:

There's more than one answer here, and what works for you (or what works for me) might not be right for someone else. That seems like a pretty simple concept.

So thats why we should all go to a third party forum & complain that Vonage service, that is clearly printed out on their website, does not meet my criteria. Doing your homework before you put the lives of your family at risk is a simple concept.

You have to weigh risk against benefit and decide for yourself what's acceptable. We all take risks with our family every day with simple things like putting them in the car.

With that, I'd say this beaten horse is pretty dead.

Posts: 70 · Full Forum Member Joined: Jun 17, 2004 Posts: 70

Hey I'm not complaining. I'm also not the one asking questions like we're Vonage employees who can really help your situation. It might be best to ask these kinds of questions of the Vonage support people, not their users.

Posts: 482 · Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2005 4:19 pm Post subject:

AirJunky, I'm not asking any questions or looking for help, I'm passing along what I've learned and providing my experience for the benefit of others who may be interested, and hopefully I'll glean some insight from someone else's experience.

This is a discussion thread among Vonage customers, and if you're not interested, I'm not sure why you keep responding. But there are people who depend on e911 more than others who may be interested in the discussion.

By the way, I read an article about a company in Florida which has patented a device that's supposed to work with your Voip service and uses a POTS line for 911 calls only. It intercepts the 911 dial and calls out over a POTS line, even if you don't have active service on that line. They hope to bring it to market by the end of the year. If you really can use a POTS line without active service to call 911, that sounds like the solution I'm looking for.

Posts: 79 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Dec 28, 2004 Posts: 79

ToddlerTN-

I have read a good number of your posts and I have to shake my head!! You say you are deciding to get Vonage or not?? E911 or not.. my kids.. my family... its like its the biggest decision of your life?? Its phone service for christs sakes!!!!!! WE KNOW ABOUT Vonage AND E911 already.. You're like a fricken tire commercial already... Stay with POT's and forget Vonage... there I made the decision for you... That was pretty easy huh?? So keep your pots line, and have 911 service, and pay a little more and quit wasting your time and ours by telling how you can't sleep at night knowing about Vonage's lack of complete 911 solution. My god already... give it up and turn in your Vonage badge...

Posts: 85 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Feb 15, 2005 Posts: 85

Obliviously, you are not ready for Vonage yet. E911 is not available yet and talking it to death won’t make it get here any faster. With the kids, family, and the burden of not sleeping at night eating away at you I recommend staying with a POTS line.

Think about the stress-free nights and all the free time you will have since you won’t be posting at all hours. You will have more time with the family and heaven forbid the power goes out or an actual emergency pops up you will have the trusty POTS line to depend on. Voip IS NOT FOR EVERYONE!