911 failure

Posts: 192 · Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2005 12:23 pm Post subject: 911 failure

I tried to activate 911 dialing on my Vonage account and received the following email:

Quote:

On July 2, 2005, we received your request to activate 911 Dialing.

Unfortunately the address you provided failed our 911 Address Matching Test.

The reason for this failure is listed below:
We're sorry. There was a problem with the information you provided. Please re-enter your address.

The address I gave them is correct. Does anyone know what "911 Address Matching Test" is?

I wonder if the problem is that my post office (i.e. mailing address) is in a nearby city, but technically I don't live in the city.

Posts: 127 · Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2005 12:38 pm Post subject:

The solution is simple,

Go to map quest and get directions from your house to where ever.
Then enter your address into the 911 the way map quest spells it out.

The reason your address failed was because it wasnt found in the system the way you spelled it.

Example.
You may live on Route 287 but the system may only take it as State Highway 287. I know.. I know.. its stupid!!! Smile

Posts: 46 · Full Forum Member Joined: Jun 03, 2005 Posts: 46

I had a similar issue.
I live on a county line thus my road has two names.
My address is of course in the county I live in and that is also where my post office is.
BUT... I get my power from the other county's lines (across the street) and so the power company has me listed under the address that would be for the other side of the road. That address is the one I had to give in order to get 911 service enabled.
So if I were to give you both of my addresses you would be able to send snail-mail to both and I would receive both.
All but one of my bills come to the address for the county I live in but my power bill come to me with the "other" address.
Go figure, and when I try to use different mapping programs half have the address I use and the other half cannot locate it. and visa-versa.
Oh and I don't use FED-EX unless I want at least a week added on to the ship date because they refuse to update the mapping software they use to find me because I use my counties address instead of the "other" one.

Posts: 192 · Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2005 1:06 pm Post subject:

The only difference in Mapquest was the suffix for my street. My address ends with the word "Place" and Mapquest says "Pl".

The other difference was that Mapquest gave me a 9 digit zip code, but Vonage wouldn't accept 9 digits.

So I changed "Place" to "Pl" and we'll see what happens.

If this fixes it then it IS stupid.

Posts: 127 · Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2005 2:21 pm Post subject:

A system similar to map quest is used to verify an address. So if that doesn't do it, perhaps there is another listing for your street. Such as here we have the Newark-Pompton turnpike but there is also a number for it (like 202 or something). If that doesn't do it please call CS. Nine out of ten times it is the address spelling.

Posts: 192 · Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2005 2:41 pm Post subject:

Well...that did it.

Changing "Place" to "Pl" caused 911 to be activated successfully.

Thanks for the help.

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Jul 26, 2005 Posts: 1

My address doesn't appear to have a suffix, but the 911 registration requires one. I have found my address on MapQuest, and it doesn't have a suffix either. My address from MapQuest is of the form "123 NC 45" (I live on a highway). What should I put for my suffix?

Posts: 34 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Apr 05, 2005 Posts: 34

dgallup wrote:

My address doesn't appear to have a suffix, but the 911 registration requires one. I have found my address on MapQuest, and it doesn't have a suffix either. My address from MapQuest is of the form "123 NC 45" (I live on a highway). What should I put for my suffix?

Check with http://zip4.usps.com/zip4/welcome.jsp for the official US mailing address.

All the mapquest, fedex, etc. are for their businesses reference only.

Doug

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Jul 26, 2005 Posts: 1

The reason why many addresses fail to validate has nothing to do with Vonage. The local 911 centers (called PSAPs-Public safety Answering Points) use technology developed in the 1970s to maintain their list of local addresses. Each address is matched to a phone number and appropriate responder info. Unfortunately, these addresses are coded in odd ways ("PL" instead of "Place") because in 1970 every byte of data was very expensive. To make things worse, the PSAPs code their addresses differently than do the more capable mapping services, like MapQuest, and they also do not correlate to the postal address. The PSAP list of addresses is called an MSAG-Master Street Address Guide. When Vonage sends a non-MSAG street address to the PSAP, it causes the PSAP mapping and answering equipment to go haywire. This is why PSAPs have been very demanding in requiring Vonage to send MSAG addresses only. In the regular phone company, they have experts who do nothing but check the postal address of each newly installed telephone and make sure it is MSAG-correct. Since the Vonage business model relys on ordinary people to order their own service and handle their own provisioning, the number of non-MSAG addresses is naturally quite high. Those of us who value the ease and annonymity of Voip must tolerate some level of frustration in the arcane world of E911 provisioning. The PSAPs could make things easier by publishing a national MSAG, but they release this info only to phone companies and other E911 businesses with a "need to know".

Posts: 1715 · Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2005 12:10 pm Post subject:

Hurricane has the right answer on this... I have a few friends in law enforcement and one night my friend's pager went off. One of her GPS-tracked parolees was on the run. So, she gets out her laptop. NONE of the streets in this area were on her maps. Ended up tossing the GPS coordinates (Latitude/longitude) into Delorme's Street Atlas and it showed the guy had probably made a trip to the ER, and listed the hospital phone #... Sure enough, that's where he was....but the police databases showed him off in some cow field.

I'd also like to ask, how long does it normally take for 911 activation to occur?