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Texas Attorney General Sues Vonage over 911
bigtallmofo writes "Vonage VoIP customers and readers of many media reports should be aware that Vonage's support for 911 service is less than ideal. Now the Attorney General of the State of Texas is suing Vonage for failing to make clear the limitations of their 911 service. The issue was brought to the AG's attention after a 17-year old Houston girl was unable to reach police after dialing 911 when both of her parents were shot by an intruder."
The real number to which your 911 call is forwarded is some sort of state secret. The 911 call centers don't want to be called except for when 911 is dialed to avoid pranks, mistakes, and confusion. If you dial 911 from Vonage they forward your call to the publicly listed police number for your area. If they could figure out what the call center for your area would be, they would foward the call there. But my understanding is the list is not available to them.
The 911 problems with VOIP are that like cell phones, you can take a VOIP phone with you. It is not tied to a location. Unlike cell phones, you can't pinpoint the location as being near a tower. You are just "on the internet" which is not nearly as helpful. VOIP does not have embedded GPS either.
Here is a list of things that I think need to happen. Lets sue until the do (I don't care who):
I'm not sure how well the GPS thing would work indoors. You might have to have the box say "I can't get a GPS signal, I won't work until I have one. Go plug me in near a window until I can see a satelite, then you can put me in the basement."
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I can't see Vonage losing. There is no 100 percent guarantee that 911 will
work, even with POTS lines. Intruders can cut POTS lines. Texas should sue but
the outcome should shed light on 911's reliability and at least push VoIP
providers to move forward with real E911 services. see Vonage losing. There is no 100 percent guarantee that 911 will
work, even with POTS lines. Intruders can cut POTS lines. Texas should sue but
the outcome should shed light on 911's reliability and at least push VoIP
providers to move forward with real E911 services.
why I don't even use even cordless phones in my home.
I will never give up that emergency landline even if it costs me more money in both installation and charges.
(I may be biased, we have needed it on two occasions in my life, both fire though)
liqbase
When configuring your Vonage account, you're forced to jump through a series of acknowledgement screen which plainly state, in very easy-to-understand text, that when you dial 911, your call will not go to the regular 911 switchboard but rather a separate emergency service, which will then notify the local police, fire, etc. You have to run through this enablement process for each number you're enabling. So while it's perhaps possible that dumbass people using Vonage won't bother to read up on the issue, it's plain that Vonage has gone out of their way to let their users know 911 won't behave in the normal fashion.
It was very clear to me that I needed to setup my 911 information based on my physical location when I got Vonage. It was the first thing I did. I feel bad for the people this happened to, but it doesn't matter if you painted the box red and put big letters on it that said SETUP YOUR 911 CALLING, some people would still be oblivious.
Geesh. Ok, how about we face the fact that the MURDER is the problem here.
1. Your message implies "who to sue". How about sue no one?! How about the personal responsibility of knowing 911 works this way when you buy the device... I own Vonage, no secret to me that 911 worked different. Pretty clear when I installed the device. Of course, everyone who visit the house know this? No... but damn, we DID NOT go through this bullshit when Cell Phones were new.
2. Murder is bad, so everyone is going to look to blame all kinds of things. But this is stupid human behavior and what makes much of the USA suck is our lack of accepting personal responsiblity (the person doing the murder). And our TV/Media always plays a role in in, making it seem like our government's main job is to keep John Q Public from killing Jim Q Public.
3. Yha, GPS. Uh huh. Let's use technology to solve problems created by technology... instead of #1 and #2.
I feel sad for the girl... but I also accept that you can't eliminate evil from the world... and every time you try to 'contain it' you just end up push it somewhere else. There are some things worth making a stand over... but come on, just a case of personal responsibility.
It is the government's job to solve all my problems! (911) Blah.
Sigh, almost every major local phone service provider is required to keep every hardline connected capable of dialing 911, even if normal service has been disconnected.
"Jeremy, you need to get to an internet cafe and cut and paste some appropriate sentiments about me from the world wide
I'm sorry, but if you're an aspiring telco player, integration into emergency services should be priority number one. If they can do it with cell towers, they can do it with VOIP and there's absolutely no excuse.
The simple fact is, we've all been trained to call 911 in the event of emergency..and sorry, but all phones should be able to reach it in one form or another. I don't care if you have to open a call center to forward the calls to the proper local authorities, you do it, and that's that.
This kind of feature should have been in place before vonage even went live and I hope that the state forces them to comply. Now.
This also effects the cordless phones to a lesser extent too. Should the power go out most cordless phones don't have battery backup on the base station so the phone still works.
Many people get rid of their normal phone when they buy a multi-handset cordless, even though there's (in the UK at least) a big sticker on the phone that tells you about requiring mains power for the thing to work and the risk.
I work for an ISP/Communications company in my area. I recently switched my number over to a beta voip test network we've been playing with. I seriously have no idea if 911 will work correctly. (Seeing as I'm geographically close to our switch, maybe it will).
So I'm a tad concerned about this.
On the other hand, I did have to dial 911 in the last year (or two?), *before* I had the VoIP service, while I had a traditional land line.
An electrical cable outside my house was about 60 years old and it decided it would short in the middle of the night. (Think this was last April or the year before). This was the main power to the house. I went out to investigate, and it was smoldering. I had no idea if the house was burning on the inside of the walls or not.
I run back inside and dial 911. Guess what? The girl didn't know my address. She fumbled for a few minutes and finally I gave it to her.
So if I know 911 had problems beforehand, why would I worry about my voip service? I've tried to make it completely clear to my family if something goes awry, we would need to use our cell phones...
FLR
911 should be turned on by default, but using an excuse that it routes through call centers is absurd. Local 911 departments have been routing calls for the last few years due to budget cuts. Thats a lame excuse.
;)
Also GPS doesnt work as well indoors, so people who said that, thats not really going to work. Right now, cellular companies use tringulation and RF timing to detect where you are, works pretty well. Cingular (Former ATT Wireless) has friend finder, where you can add your friends and family and see where they are. Or leave a phone in the your car, and find out all hours where the car is.
While Vonage is great and all, they are not taxed by anyone, as of yet. If you look at your baby bell phone bill, you'll see a tax of a few bucks on there each month for Emergency 911 service.
I pay for my 911 service, and so does everyone who uses a landline or a cell phone. Vonage wants access to this system, but they don't want to pay for it.
That is why the baby bell's are refusing access to the PRIVATE 911 network which they have established. We take 911 for granted, but it is a service that is private, and it is a service that we pay for.
I am a user of Vonage.
And i often travel to Europe and use VoIP from there to make calls in the USA.
What is Vonage supposed to do if i dial 911 in Europe ? (In Europe, the emergency number is 112.)
Isn't one of the points of VOIP that you can take your number with you anywhere in cyberspace? Call from your house in the suburbs, your downtown office, or the Marriot three time zones away?
There's no reasonable way to require the service to map 911 services if they don't know where you are.
As for Vonage, there's a link on their home page for 911 Dialing. If you click on it, you see that it's an extra service and all the limitations are clearly laid out, including the need to update them with your location and the fact that it'll only call the current designated location.
Based on my limited research on the subject earlier, the issue SHOULD be why Vonage is denied access to the 911 network. It isn't as is they don't want to provide it.
"Unlike traditional phone technology, VoIP converts the sound of a voice into small packets of data -- about 50 packets for every second of conversation -- scatters them across the Internet, and then reassembles them into sound on the other end of a call."
No thanks. I'm just a country doctor. I'm not having my phone call molecules scattered across the galaxy, er, internet.
Mr. T pitied this fool on 27 July 1992.
...to get this sorted out. To my mind emergency services are a clear requirement on any phone system: Company PBX's have always had the ability to dial out in an emergency. Even most cellphones still let you call the emergency services when blocked or out of credit.
It's kind of annoying that in general, we argue against lumping VOIP in with the kind of legislation that applies to trad voice: the kind of legislation that may restrict free calls, or features or privacy or all of the above, and yet the VOIP provider blows it by not even offering a sensible baseline service.
Does Texas produce anything besides asshats?
Please tell us where you're from.
(I'm certain hilarity will ensue, and I could use a good laugh this morning.)
VoIP is NOT tranditional phone service.. saying "well because I use it to talk to people.. I should have regular 911" is flawed..
That's like living on a big old country road WAY out there... and having trees fall down often.. well when one falls you have to get a tow truck in there or other large vehicle to move it.
Saying VoIP needs landline quality 911 is like saying you need/want a crain on your car so you can move those trees... after all someone's life might depend on you getting through.
Your car is not designed to move trees... likewise VoIP is *not* regular phone service, and as a result will be DIFFERENT.. (You don't see anyone sueing because they get 3 way calling for free.. do you? That's certainly not a standard for a regular phone line.).
If dialing 911 (cutting trees) is that important to you, then keep a regular land line, or cell phone (get a tow truck).... but don't expect one technology to work like another!
"If it's real, then it gets more interesting the closer you examine it. If it's not real, just the opposite is true." -
I just listened to the sound clip of the call at:h p?id= 849
http://www.oag.state.tx.us/oagNews/release.p
I don't see how this lawsuit will have any feet to stand on... first the message CLEARLY states that 911 service is not available on that line.. and instructs you what to do (have a neighbor call or... HEAVEN FORBID!!! call the police number like you used to have to do 5 years ago)... it's not like Vonage is being negligent about this in any way...
...is because people's lives depend on it.
Vonage, welcome to the big kids' play ground. Providing a telecommunications service is a serious business. We take our service seriously and providing anything less than continuous dialtone and emergency access service is subpar.
Everyone likes to rail against the local phone companies, but there are a few things they do quite well. The first is continuity of service, i.e. the vaunted 99.999% uptime figure. The second is emergency services. Through 100 years of history they've learned through experience, regulation, and law suits what works best to meet the needs of the public.
CLECs like to complain about the hoops they have to jump through, particularly for 911, in order to meet the local utility board's requirements for becoming a competing telecom carrier. Well now people know why. Providing a reliable public service is difficult and expensive.
If Vonage wants to provide public service and offer a substitute to a typical wireline service, they need to be held accountable and made to go through all the same rigor that a CLEC does in order to connect to the PSTN (public switched telephone network). Methods exist in every part of the country to allow for CLECs to come in and offer service. These methods include 911 interoperability. Vonage hasn't done so because it isn't required of them yet, it costs money, it takes time, and it has to be done in every local calling area in which they want to offer service. This would require them to think like a phone company and only offer service in areas where the number of clients meets the break-even point for the cost of implementing the service in that area. And that alone would blow the "internet phone company" business model.
Personally, I'm glad that people are waking up to the realization that there is no valid wireline replacement (in terms of VoIP, not wireless) and that there are certain fixed costs and processes that have to be met in order to provide a public telecom service.
Bell companies connect emergency calls to the 911 PSAPs (public service answering points). CLECs do. ILECs do. Wireless companies do. VoIP providers should be required to do so too if they are going to offer a public telecom service as a wireline replacement.
If the state requires all phones to provide access to 911, then Vonage's disclaimers do not absolve them of potential liability.
-- Slashdot: When Public Access TV Says "No"
If you didn't want to paint it red, get one of these and put it under one of these.
Call it the "9-1-1 Emergency Phone" for the kiddies...
Get your Unix fortune now!
Mr. Abbott,
I find your lawsuit against Vonage to be incredibly frivolous. First, Vonage is NOT traditional telephone service. It is VoIP. VoIP is NOT regulated, nor is it required to provide 911 service. Vonage has found a way to offer 911 service to consumer by redirecting them to their PSAP, however this can only be done AFTER the consumer has told Vonage where the unit will be used (as you can take it anywhere).
Second, saying you 'want 911' on your VoIP line, is like saying you want your car to be able to move large trees from the country road you live on. It's simply not the same thing. You need a tow truck, or other large vehicle to move the trees.... Likewise, VoIP is NOT traditional land line service, and as a result some things are different. I see no one complaining about FREE 3-way calling, FREE voice mail, and FREE caller-ID... these are certainly NOT services offered by traditional land-line companies.
Are you going to sue Ford because they failed to mention that the car you are purchasing does NOT have side air bags? Are you going to sue Ford because they didn't have a sticker on the car clearly indicating you could be injured more severely in car B then in car A because it didn't have side air bags?
Mr. Abbott, the time has come for American's to take responsibility for their actions. This is clearly a case of negligence (the persons involved failed to setup their 911 service), or ignorance (persons involved failed to read the NUMEROUS warnings that Vonage gives.. even the periodical e-mails if 911 service is not activated, and the BIG RED LETTERS at the top of the dashboard page if 911 is not activated).
Further, in signing up for service, these persons agreed to the Terms of Service, which clearly state that traditional 911 is not offered, and there are limitations to VoIP 911. Additionally, it MUST BE ACTIVATED!
I am asking you, Mr. Abbott, to stop this frivolous lawsuit and move on to more important things, like educating the people of Texas about VoIP, rather then trying to stifle its growth.
Sincerely,
Matt Hoppes
The real question is did the customer have the service turned on?
From vonage's website:
911 Dialing Is Not Automatically Set Up for Use. You Must Pre-Activate 911 Dialing. You May Decline 911 Dialing.
We STRONGLY urge you to activate 911 Dialing. Even if you don't plan to make 911 calls from your Vonage line, there may be others who do. You can't plan in advance for all situations. For example, a residential line could be used by babysitters, young children, in-laws, and others who may need to make 911 calls. If you decline 911 from Vonage, you or others will not be able to call 911 from your Vonage line. Don't play games with your safety. Register today
Of course that really doesn't matter. The fact is it didn't work and that's enough for someone to sue.
It would be interesting to know if they had the service turned on or not. Of course it should be on by default...
I personally think this is a backdoor ploy by the status quo phone industry to hurt Vonage.
Let's face it, cell phones don't always have 911 access either, but NO one complains about that. That's because the status quo phone industry makes a fortune on cell phones.
Once the status quo phone industry kills off the little guys like Vonage and takes over VOIP, we won't be hearing about the so called 911 problem anymore.
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
But you have to enable it, and tell them your location.
Lets face it, there is *NO* way that 'your VoIP phone service will work anywhere you plug it into a broadband Internet connection (including locations other than your home)' and/or 'you are not restricted to the local monopoly-phone carrier for your phone service, or even required to use their existing wiring plant' can ever be compatible with 'the phone service provider always automatically knows your location'. Anyone desiring services with the former featurs, *should* have the sense (or if they don't, it should be in big bold letters when they sign up) to realize that.
For more info (from Vonage):
http://vonage.com/features.php?feature=911
Hey, wait a minute, they do! Ok, but get this. Because it's VOIP, they don't really know where you are so they have no idea what call center to route it to. Ok, say I call 911, where would you route me to? Come on it's an emercency, where are you going to route the call? Ok, so as part of the setup, you can activate 911 dialing and include your location. Now it gets routed to the proper 911 call center.
So how is it vonage's fault that the family never provided their location to activate the 911 dialing feature?
Also cell phones route your call based on the cell tower you are using. So that system is flawed as well because I could be in one town, using a cell tower in another town so my call gets routed to the police station on the other side of said town, while I'm standing outside the police station of my own town.
But of course I guess you know all this because you helped keep the 911 computer system up .
Trying to answer my own question, here is rule as it applies to wireless, still looking for land-line. http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/wireless911sr vc.html
"Uh sorry, you've got the wrong number, this is 9-1...2..."
With my smoke detector, I can press the TEST button and hear the loud noises it makes.
How will 911 react if I ring them up and say "Just testing the service works." ?
Sure. my providor may tell me whether it _should_ work, but, as you say, it is my personal responsibility to make sure it _does_ work, no?
b3 4phr41d 0f my 4bov3-4v3r4g3 c0mpu73r kn0wI3dg3!
MadDwarf
Suppose I'm interested in signing up for Vonage. I go to vonage.com, click on "Basic 500 plan." On the main page, it says, "Does Vonage offer a 911 Dialing emergency type of dialing service? Yes. Click here to learn more. " Clicking on the link takes me to a page where the first sentence reads, "Vonage offers 911 Dialing to all customers. When you dial 911, your call is routed from the Vonage network to the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) for your area." Just below it, in bright yellow-orange letters, a message clearly states, "You Must Tell Us the Physical Location of Your Vonage Line for 911 Dialing to Function."
When consumers purchase the plan over the phone, call center salespeople also fail to disclose this important information...
Okay, so 2 weeks later, I sign up for Vonage by phone. My phone rep tells me about 911. Of course, YMMV, but the burden of proof is going to be unfortunately on Vonage via policies to its employees.
Even after signing up, there are limitations to the service that Vonage customers may never know about unless they read the fine print buried on the company's Web site.
After signing up, I log in, and get a dashboard. Granted, nothing about 911 shows on the dashboard. When I click on "Features," however, which is where you go to set up call forwarding, voicemail, network outage fallback number (strangely called Network Availability Number), Right There In A Bold Red Box, It Says "911 Dialing is NOT automatic. You must activate 911 Dialing for each number on your account."
This is hardly "buried in the fine print."
See above.
For example, customers who dial 9-1-1 through Vonage's "911 dialing" service are routed through administrative lines at 9-1-1 call centers, not directly to call-station operators who dispatch emergency vehicles. Calls outside regular business hours may not be answered. If emergency personnel do get the call, they may not be able to identify the caller's phone number and will not have information about the caller's address.
No personal experience on this one, but given the other falsehoods in the article, I find it highly suspicious. Vonage collects your address and binds it to your telephone number. When you call them, they know the registered address of the phone. Vonage claims to use that information to connect to the proper call center. In the age of call forwarding, I would hope this information is auto-routed to the call center... but then again, how many times have I keyed my account number into an automaton only to have the human ask for it all over again.
In summary, Vonage is great, it's 911 is what it is, but they certainly warn you about it, and this lawsuit is baseless.
The OP could have expounded a bit, but I ask you all to reconsider as this was also my first, and yes a tad callous, thought.
Her parents were shot by an intruder. Daughter was obviously either hiding or protected well enough that she didn't get shot. The article states that she is 17 not 7 so the expectation is that she would not only know her address but also be able to provide location information, even in a brief space of time.
911 is to dispatch as soon as possible in an ermegency. That does not guarantee that any further mayhem may not occur until the calvary arrives. Dialing 911 is only the beginning of help. It's not a direct guarantee that the the minute you call, you're safe. It just means that someone else now knows that something bad has happened and that possibly the danger isn't over.
If you dial "0" on a Vonage phone do you get a local operator? Does someone even think about any of this in a time of emergency when their life is in danger? Probably not. Maybe not especially a 17 year old kid who's parents have been shot.
However, I work in telecom. People call and cancel their long distance because they're switching all their land line based svc to switch to VoIP. And I ask them if they are aware that they may not be able to reach 911. And the response 9 times out of 10 is that the savings is worth the risk. Of course no one will think that after an emergency. I wonder if her parents took the risk, initialed the little box, checked the appropriate little form box and if so, the risk factor assumed is their own, not Vonage's.
This also speaks to the litigous depths we will sink too. I'm so very tired of people, especially over-eager attorneys, thinking of lawsuits first instead of, "this was awful, let's work on preventing it in the future". Once upon a time we realized the world was not a perfect place. Now when we get pissed off or hurt or even just on a soapbox, we sue.
I hope Vonage doesn't have to spend more time and money focusing on a lawsuit than they could on improving the service and 911 support. The original post poses the fact that will a lawsuit change what happened? The answer is no. Will Vonage improve their service, lawsuit or no? Of course. Time and technology will take care of that.
911 is PRETTY GODDAMN IMPORTANT. Its taught to kids in Kindergarten. Everyone knows it. Its a universal number that connects you to the police. You can't say "Well, if people are too dumb to read the documentation, they shouldn't be upset."
Supporting 911 also includes having emergency services know your address, know your PHONE NUMBER, and other information. Its not just a macro that connects you to a PRIVATE company that might not even be open. A 5 year old who doesn't know what his address is can call 911 and have help arrive.
But according to some posters here, everyone should have read this fine print, buried in the terms of service:
2.1 Non-Availability of Traditional 911 or E911 Dialing Service
You acknowledge and understand that the Service does NOT support traditional 911 or E911 access to emergency services. Vonage does offer a limited 911-type service available only on Vonage Devices as described herein, but you acknowledge and understand that 911-type dialing is NOT automatic, that you must separately take affirmative steps, as described in this Agreement and on Vonage's website, to activate such 911-type dialing capabilities and that such 911-type dialing is different in a number of important ways (some, but not necessarily all, of which are described in this Agreement) from traditional 911 service. Vonage 911 dialing cannot be used in conjunction with a Vonage Soft Phone application and is only available on Vonage-certified Devices or Equipment. You agree to inform any household residents, guests and other third persons who may be present at the physical location where you utilize the Service of the non-availability of traditional 911 or E911 dialing from your Vonage Service and Device(s). If you activate Vonage 911-type dialing service, you agree to inform any household residents, guests and other third persons who may be present at the physical location where you utilize the Service as to the important differences and limitations of Vonage 911 dialing service as compared with traditional 911 or E911 dialing that are set forth in this Agreement.
2.2 Description of 911-Type Dialing Capabilities - Activation Required
Vonage does offer a 911-type dialing service in the U.S. (but may not offer such service in Canada) that is different in a number of important ways from traditional 911 service. You acknowledge and understand that 911-type dialing is NOT automatic. You must successfully activate the 911 dialing feature by following the instructions from the "Dial 911" link on your dashboard. You acknowledge and understand that you cannot dial 911 from this line unless and until you have received a confirming email. Once you have received a confirming email that 911 dialing has been successfully activated, you may dial 911 as needed. When you dial 911, your call is routed from the Vonage network to the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) or local emergency service personnel designated for the address that you listed at the time of activation. You acknowledge and understand that when you dial 911 from your Vonage equipment it is intended that you will be routed to the general telephone number for the PSAP or local emergency service provider (which may not be answered outside business hours), and may not be routed to the 911 dispatcher(s) who are specifically designated to receive incoming 911 calls using traditional 911 dialing. Vonage relies on third parties for the forwarding of information underlying such routing, and accordingly Vonage and its third party provider(s) disclaim any and all liability or responsibility in the event such information or routing is incorrect. As described herein, this 911-type dialing currently is NOT the same as traditional 911 or E911 dialing, and at this time, does not necessarily include all of the capabilities of traditional 911 dialing. Neither Vonage nor its officers or employees may be held liable for any claim, damage, or loss, and you hereby waive any and all such claims or causes of action, arising from or relati
I could be wrong but I believe the phone companies are required to keep 911 available when existing phone service is disonnected. They aren't required to run a new line to anyone's house but once a line is established they have to maintain 911 access.
I don't know if that's federal or state or what.
Who are "The 911" people? Do you have any idea how 911 works?
s tory.html. Scroll to the bottom for more info.
Educate thyself, brother: http://www.911dispatch.com/911_file/history/911hi
:)
"Was it a millionaire who said 'Imagine No Posessions?'" -- Elvis Costello
Not at all, ever, anywhere!
There have been numerous lawsuits against police
departments, emergency rescue services, fire
services, and local governments across the USA.
In every instance, the courts have ruled that
neither the local government nor the emergency
services have an obligation to respond to any
emergency within a time frame that will preclude
loss of life or permanent disability. The emblem
and phrase on the side of police vehicles "To
Protect and Serve" is only feel-good marketing.
That said, I do believe that there is a case
proceeding to the US Supreme Court over this
issue. The original venue was Cook County, IL
(Chicago area), if my memory serves me. The case
involves domestic violence; the husband/boyfriend
had one or more restraining orders against him,
and the police and/or district attorney failed to
provide either police protection, or else failed
to keep the defendent incarcerated, with tragic
results. I really don't think the plaintif will
stand a chance of winning the case -- the legal
and financial repercussions would be enormous
for local governments.
This is why I still have a landline as my primary phone. Yes, it is expensive. Yes, it's annoying to pay that monthly bill.
I have a 2 year old daughter. I have never needed to call 911 but I DEFINATELY need to know it is accessible at a moments notice and that 911 can find me without having to worry about it. Also, when my daughter gets a little older I need to know she can dial 911 and get help, even if she doesn't know our address.
We have a landline and two cellphones. We contemplated dropping the landline and just going with the cells because it's so much cheaper -- 911 service is the primary reason we did not do so. Even cell 911 is limited and they cannot always figure out where you are located -- and what happens if you let the battery run down???
Until alternative methods of contacting emergency personnel are proven to be effective, I will stick with my landline. It's worth the extra cost.
Also, having the landline means we can give people we really don't care about (ie the plumber) our landline number and we aren't spreading our cell number around to everyone in the world.
Set up a rotary phone (or a clearly marked touchtone, preferably one that looks nothing like the ones hooked to Vonage -- you should be able to tell it instantly from your VoIP phones, even when you are under heavy stress. Red, maybe?) on your old landline if you switch to Vonage -- the phone company is required to provide you with 911 even if you don't have phone service on the line.
Or just keep your local phone service, and every phone in the house is really 911 capable -- that's what I do, and it works well with six phones. If you only have one phone hooked up for 911, it may be harder to get to a telephone when you're home alone having a heart attack and your cell phone is on the charger if you have one. I for one don't want to die because I wanted to save a few bucks and cut most or all of my house's phones off from 9-1-1, of all things. It'd be a humiliating way to go out, not having a working telephone.
Or alternatively, make sure that someone in your house has a working cell phone at all times; 911 is better than with Vonage, I believe.
Well not now as in today, we don't want to slashdot 911. However if you have VOIP service and 911 should be enabled, call 911, tell the operator it is a test (sometimes they will put you on hold until they are not busy, just wait) then ask the operator to verify that they have your correct address.
It is legal to call 911 for purposes of testing, but you should only do so when you need to test something. A voip phone is good reason to test 911.
It is easy to do. Everyone should do it once in their life just so they have an idea what will happen when 911 answers. Just remember that you are low priority, don't get mad when they leave you suddenly. If there is an emergency you want them to take care of that first.
I can just hear all the 9-1-1 operators bitching later today. WTF is slashdot, and why is everyone from there calling to "test" their service?