Vonage's 911 Announcement

Posts: 10 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Nov 20, 2005 Posts: 10

Well, I just noticed that it had been posted to the front page already.

Maybe one day I'll learn how to scroll down.

Posts: 1424 · Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2005 8:10 am Post subject:

Anyone following this topic should read and act on Jeff Pulver's blog.

Quote:

yesterday Senator Rockefeller (D-WV) put a hold on the US Senate E911 bill . . . . putting a hold on the bill . . . will likely have a bigger impact on delaying E911 solutions for VoIP

If you care about this bill . . . then you should call Senator Rockefeller's office

The contact information is in his blog.

Posts: 29 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Mar 26, 2005 Posts: 29

akula wrote:

Here's a press release with 80 new counties named; these are the new places that just got E-911.

http://www.vonage.com/corporate/press_index.html?PR=2005_12_14_1

Sounds great, except I live in New London County CT which is listed as having E911 in that press release and when I call 933 it still says I do not have it! Vonage appears to be wrong in at least one place! Rolling Eyes

Posts: 282 · Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2005 9:42 am Post subject:

I looked at the listing you posted, and the only NC county on it has a county-wide population of 96K. Makes you wonder about the prioritization process, when this is one of the smallest counties in the state.

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2005 9:51 am Post subject:

ChrisFix wrote:

I looked at the listing you posted, and the only NC county on it has a county-wide population of 96K. Makes you wonder about the prioritization process, when this is one of the smallest counties in the state.

Since it's probably the county that sets it up, they could probably afford to put in lower-end gear and respond more quickly. In a county of 96,000 people, a couple of good PC's and a few thousand dollars would probably see a decent E911 dispatch office put in.

The larger counties will need to spend more, and sift through more layers of beaurocracy, to accomplish the same goal that a small county can do in a matter of days or weeks.

Posts: 10 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Nov 20, 2005 Posts: 10

That was only the most recent 80 counties added (and only certain spots in them, from whatI can tell), so if you already had E911, you wouldn't be shown. For example, no Missouri counties were listed there, but SBC runs the phone lines around here, and many of those may well have been covered by their agreement with Vonage.

Posts: 30 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Feb 01, 2005 Posts: 30

Sort of strange, that PR piece from V. First: "In just two weeks, Vonage has equipped an additional 140 locally-run emergency call centers, in over 80 counties, with E911 ─ a feature that automatically associates a physical address with the calling party’s telephone number.".

Huh? *V* equipped the centers? I thought E911 was E911. What's V to do with it? Perhaps they meant 'V supplied a list of numbers and addresses to be sure things were all set' to these counties' 911 centers.

And, also, my county (Loudoun VA, about 40 W of DC, FYI) is on the 'just done' list. Well, I tested my line about five months ago when all this brouhaha was going on, and it worked fine. So, what's recent, I wonder? Perhaps it was verified again recently?

BTW, as far as I know (and I'm a telecom manager), you can always test 911, if (1) you do it off hours (not evening, weekend, etc.) and (2) the *first words out of your mouth are* "This is a test"then "I'm testing my location information, can you tell me what address shows on your screen?" About a 20 second call, and everyone's happy. They are because they know where the heck you are, and you are, because they do know! Smile

I had no problems doing that, and telephone personnel do it *all* the time when they install new circuits for businesses, etc., to be sure the line matches up with the building's address. (Now, sure, you don't want every V customer testing 911 the same day or something, but they won't clap you in jail for testing it, if you do it correctly. Smile

)

Posts: 2135 · Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2005 6:05 pm Post subject:

leesweet wrote:

(Now, sure, you don't want every V customer testing 911 the same day or something, but they won't clap you in jail for testing it, if you do it correctly. Smile

)

Apparently it costs Vonage somewhere around $9.00 per each 911 call, just an FYI.

Posts: 605 · Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2005 6:17 pm Post subject:

Apparently only ass backward Florida counties have been added to vonage E-911. Hillsborough County where Tampa is located does not work with vonage e-911 per this list. Alot of others like Miami are not even in there. Oh well...

http://www.vonage.com/corporate/press_index.html?PR=2005_12_14_1

Posts: 3198 · Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2005 6:50 pm Post subject:

either I'm missing something or you are.

"Since November 28th, Vonage has added the following counties to its list of those with E911 capabilities:"

so what was there before 11/28?