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FCC Extends VoIP 911 Deadline
a.different.perspect writes "The Federal Communications Commission has extended the deadline for formal acknowledgement of the limitations of the Enhanced 911 service used by VoIP providers by 30 days, to September 28. The FCC requires that VoIP companies in the United States inform and receive acknowledgement from all their customers of the pitfalls of E911, which corresponds 911 calls made on a VoIP service with the physical address of the caller according to company records but which won't report correct information if, for example, a customer uses their VoIP phone away from their registered address. Currently 1.5 million VoIP subscribers have confirmed their acceptance of E911, but 100,000 are yet to respond and had faced the termination of their service."
Actually, the McDonald's coffee case wasn't all that dumb:
http://www.lectlaw.com/files/cur78.htm
Send email from the afterlife! Write your e-will at Dead Man's Switch.
She killed her own child by signing up for a service that didn't fit her needs.
Ok, you cancel your landline and buy a mobile phone. The mobile phone doesn't work in your area. DO you sue T-Mobile?
From Business Week (MUCH BETTER ARTICLE)
" A deadline has been extended that could have left tens of thousands of people without their Internet phone service next week.
The Federal Communications Commission said Friday it would delay a Monday deadline for providers of Internet-based phone calls to obtain acknowledgments that their customers understand the problems they may encounter when dialing 911 in an emergency.
Providers of the phone service, known as Voice over Internet Protocol or "VoIP," had been told by the FCC that they should disconnect service by Tuesday to people who had not responded.
The agency extended the deadline to Sept. 28. If by that time a provider still has not received confirmation, then the company should disconnect a customer's phone service, according to the FCC order.
The agency gave companies the option of turning off regular Internet phone service to a client but still allowing emergency calls to 911 to be made. As part of this so-called "soft" disconnect, a provider could also allow customers to place non-911 calls that would automatically be sent to the company's customer service center.
The VON Coalition, a group of VoIP providers, was pleased with the extension but still worried about having to cut a client's service next month.
"You've got to think there's some portion of the population that's not going to return these things," said Glenn Richards, legal counsel for the coalition. "I just question whether the best result is to turn those people off."
The deadline extension followed complaints from the coalition, which includes AT&T and MCI, that customers would be left stranded in an emergency. Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and other lawmakers also wrote FCC Chairman Kevin Martin to express their concerns.
Anywhere from 75,000 to 100,000 people could have been left with no service, according to industry estimates. There are about 1.7 million VoIP subscribers nationwide.
The FCC issued its initial order in May after tearful testimony from a Florida mother who told the commissioners about how she was unable to summon help to save her dying infant daughter.
The commission ordered the companies to provide full emergency 911 capabilities by Nov. 28. The acknowledgments were a first step in that process.
Unlike traditional telephones, where phone numbers are associated with a specific location, VoIP users can place a call from virtually anywhere they have access to a high-speed Internet connection. That can make it difficult to connect VoIP accounts to the computer systems that automatically route 911 calls to the nearest emergency dispatcher and transmit the caller's location and phone number to the operator who answers the call.
Power outages can also be a problem, leaving users unable to dial 911 because the high-speed Internet modems, phone adapters and computers needed for VoIP rely on electrical outlets.
Vonage Holdings Corp., the biggest VoIP carrier, with more than 800,000 subscribers, said Friday that 97 percent of its customer base had responded to the company's notices about 911 risks. That leaves 23,000 subscribers the company is still trying to reach via e-mail, phone and mail."
If the bleach bottle is labelled "Vinegar" then the answer is "not yours".
If I served you ice cream at -240F and your tongue froze and broke off after you put a spoonful in your mouth, would that be your fault? After all, everyone knows ice is cold.
"Hot Coffee" means 120-140 degrees. That is what it means everywhere in the country EXCEPT some McDonalds, where they think they know better so they served it at 180 degrees. At 180 degrees the behavior of water (which is what coffee really is) in contact with skin is completely different than at 140. More so than the difference in spilling bleach on your skin vs spilling vinegar. At 140 degrees your skin and the air can dissipate the heat of the liquid faster than it can cook your skin. At 180 degrees it cannot. There is a threshold passed where you move from "Hot" to "Scalding".
The way Vonage is going about this is slimy at best.
They send out email saying, "go to this web page and acknowledge this FCC required notice, or we'll cut off your service."
When you get to the web page, it has the notice and a link to a new terms of service agreement. A side-by-side comparison of the new TOS reveals that every change made is worse for the subscriber and better for Vonage. No way am I agreeing to this thing.
At the bottom of the web page, there are two checkboxes. One says, "I acknowledge that I read and understand the above 911 Dialing notice." The other says, "I accept the new Terms of Service Agreement."
If you check the 911 box but leave the TOS box blank, it won't let you continue.
So, Vonage is taking advantage of these FCC regulations to cram a new, worse TOS down its subscribers' throats, and pretending that it's the FCC's fault.
I'm canceling on Monday, as soon as my unlocked ATA shows up. There are much better services out there who aren't trying to screw their customers at every turn.