911 gets you to a trained emergency services operator who has access to all of the emergency services that you might need. In addition, your name and address will appear at the same time as your call so in the event that you are unable to speak the operator can still send help. It sounds simple to program numbers into an autodialer but when you're having a heart attack or someone's breaking into your house most people are still going to dial 911 out of habit.
The sad fact is that it is not all that difficult to provide real E911 services via a VoIP phone. Some cable companies are providing it now and have been for years. Unfortunately there are a number of providers that didn't want to incur the cost associated with making that happen.
911 gets you to a trained emergency services operator who has access to all of the emergency services that you might need. In addition, your name and address will appear at the same time as your call so in the event that you are unable to speak the operator can still send help. It sounds simple to program numbers into an autodialer but when you're having a heart attack or someone's breaking into your house most people are still going to dial 911 out of habit.
The sad fact is that it is not all that difficult to provide real E911 services via a VoIP phone. Some cable companies are providing it now and have been for years. Unfortunately there are a number of providers that didn't want to incur the cost associated with making that happen.