Vonage Working on Climbing Back Up the Ladder
Call me naive, but I still think that Vonage will rebound and regain the sure footing they once enjoyed. If they end up completely disappearing off the face of the VoIP market, you can all say “I told you so,” but until then, they’re carrying on business as usual. Good for them.
Emergency dispatchers and Vonage urged US senators earlier this week to pass a bill that would ensure all VoIP customers would be able to dial the emergency 911 service. This is still a very important drawback to VoIP service, and rightly so.
As InfoWorld reported, “about 5 percent of Vonage’s customers do not have access to 911 service, even though the U.S. Federal Communications Commission voted in May 2005 to require it from most VoIP providers. The problem is that Vonage can’t get access to the 911 facilities controlled by competitors or because some dispatch centers are worried about legal liability if VoIP 911 calls fail, said Sharon O’Leary, executive vice president and chief legal officer for Vonage.”
“But the IP-Enabled Voice Communications and Public Safety Act, introduced in January by Senator Bill Nelson, would fix those problems, O’Leary said. The bill would fix problems out of VoIP providers’ control by requiring telecom companies that control 911 facilities to connect to VoIP providers and protecting dispatch centers from legal liability. The bill would also require VoIP providers to give a clear and conspicuous notice to customers who cannot receive 911 service.”
“By including access provisions in the legislation, you ensure that the 911 system remains a public trust, not a tool to block competition,” O’Leary said during a hearing before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.
Wanda McCarley, president of the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International and a dispatch trainer in Fort Worth, Texas feels that Congress should go one step beyond the Nelson bill and not allow VoIP providers to offer their services to customers to whom they cannot provide 911. Makes sense. Customers expect to be able to dial and utilize the 911 service when they pick up the phone. ”There is no room for error,” she said. “Nine-one-one must not be an afterthought to new consumer services.”
But Jason Barbour, President of the National Emergency Number Association and 911 director in Johnston County, North Carolina, pointed out that VoIP is not the only service that lacks 911 calling capabilities. Three percent of traditional US landline phones, mainly in rural areas, do not have enhanced 911 access either, and 40% percent of US counties do not have access to enhanced 911 for mobile phones. The updating to the system and requirements needs to be done across the board, not specifically targeting VoIP service providers. ”We need to ensure that when someone pushes the panic button, we receive that panic call,” Barbour said. Amen to that.