Texas suing Vonage over 911 calls

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: May 01, 2005 Posts: 1

I am a HAPPY Vonage customer and an E-911 Communications Officer.

When I call 911 from my home, I get the administrative line at our PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point)

We don't, as Vonage advises, get any address or caller information, in fact, we only have the number on our caller ID on our phones.

If you find yourself in the position to call 911 MAKE SURE you give us your address!

You can also plug a phone into a "dead" phone jack and you can still dial 911, and it WILL give the address info to our computer system, but not your name. The Address is the most important thing for us to know so we can send something to your emergency.

Thanks
Chuck

Posts: 78 · Posted: Sun May 01, 2005 1:54 pm Post subject: The Texas 911 Debacle

mbhn5204 wrote:

While I was waiting for my 911 programming. I found out the phone number of the Public Safety Access Point and put it on speed dial. I also put up an 8x10 instruction sheet on how to use it, what to say, etc. It's still there today in case its a friend, neighbor, relative that has to use it because I'm unable to. How many of you out there have gone that far? What happens if you are incapacitated?

This Texas person was negligent in their responsibility to themselves and their family. There is no one to blame but themselves. To sue Vonage is just further proof of their irresponsibility.

I agree with most of your post. Fortunately I happen to live in a state that was the first one to correctly route E-911 calls from Vonage lines to the emergency PSAP for Rhode Island.

In my case, all they have to do is pick up the phone, punch 9-1-1 and off it goes to the console at the E-911 dispatch center operator.

It all has to do with who 'owns' the E-911 infrastructure. If it happens to be structured like it is in RI, ANY carrier can connect to E-911 services because Verizon doesn't own it. The state does.

What I find most amusing about this whole thing is that Vonage uses regulated carrier switches, which already have connections to E-911 infrastructure. So the roadblock is the incumbent carriers, not Vonage.

The Texas case will go nowhere. Vonage clearly warns people about what 911 will and will not do. I strongly suspect this is a play by incumbent wire-line carriers to drive a stake into the heart of Voip.

If you look at what is going on with metro 802.11 networks, you can clearly see the hand of the incumbents attempting, and succeeding to quash it. I'm getting ready to testify against both Verizon Wireless and Cingular because they're trying to kill a setup in Providence.

I have no sympathy for the big incumbents. They could have adapted and survived but instead chose to hide behind their tariffs.