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FCC Extends VoIP 911 Deadline

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the almost-there dept.

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."

3 of 113 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Um by The+Dobber · · Score: 4, Interesting


    So let's say I'm over at my neighbors house and they suffer a heart attack. Should I stop and quizz them as to the functionality of 911 with thier service provider. Think a 5 or 6 year old child understands the implications?

    911 exists for a reason, to rapidly and effectively provide emergency service.

  2. Re:Um by KnightMB · · Score: 4, Interesting

    She dialed 911 and got through just fine, she just blamed VoIP because of her tragedy and her lawyer is trying to cash in. That's the thing people forget, she dialed 911 and it worked (twice actually), again just someone trying to $$$ in on a tragedy.

  3. Is 911 service universal? by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 3, Interesting

    As recently as 5 years ago, some towns in NJ and PA didn't have 911 service. Payphones (and phones of people who got them) had little stickers:
    FIRE: xxx-xxxx POLICE: xxx-xxxx AMBULANCE: xxx-xxxx
    Also, the town where I went to college had 911 service, but it was just forwarded to the main desk at the police station - at night, it was forwarded to the police station in a nearby larger town since there was no desk sargeant on duty at night. No fancy county-wide control center or whatever, just a call-forwarding service. I have no idea how cell phones worked there since I didn't have one at the time. (Finally got one like 3 weeks ago because I needed phone #s in both NYC and NJ).
    -b.