Raising alarms about 911 over Net phones

(continued from previous page)

both her parents were shot by intruders, never got through to police. Instead, the Houston teen got a recording from the Net phone company her family recently began using, telling her that 911 service wasn't available. She managed to escape to summon authorities and an ambulance from elsewhere--with a phone that did provide 911 connection.

That incident is coupled with a renewed sense that Net phone adoption is speeding up, and drawing more attention from regulators. The number of residential Net phone subscribers in the United States is set to grow from 3 million in 2005 to 27 million by 2009, according to data released by IDC.

"As is their right, the FCC is trying to get in front of this," said Mike Balmoris, a spokesman for local phone giant SBC Communications. "We welcome that."

The Houston scenario spotlighted once again how U.S. Net phone providers still cannot successfully route a 911 call to the right emergency calling center and also provide emergency operators with the caller's phone number and location. The problem is that the Bells have yet to give VoIP providers unfettered access to the 911 infrastructure linking more than 3,200 emergency call centers.

That forces the Net phone companies into less-effective ways of routing 911 calls. Rather than being able to get them directly to trained emergency dispatchers, the calls are typically routed to administrative lines at call centers, which then transfer them to dispatchers. In an emergency, the few seconds lost could be the difference between life and death.

"Sometimes, a VoIP 911 caller only hears some automated voice telling them an administrative office is closed, and that if this is a real emergency, they should dial 911," said John Melcher, executive director of the 911 call center in Houston, which is the second largest in the country. "But they can't."

Few options
The 911 headaches come on a number of levels. Even if VoIP providers do get direct access to the 911 infrastructure, most of the emergency call centers can't yet deal with IP phone calls. That's the result of tight state and federal budgets that leave them with little to spend on new gear, plus the perception among police officials that there's little reason yet to do the costly conversions.

There's also a regulatory conundrum that would require the Bells to bend the rules a bit to help a competitor. Any VoIP carrier wanting to directly connect to the 911 system must be a certified carrier. That's fine for deep-pocketed corporations that can afford to hire lawyers and regulatory lobbyists to track, obey and even influence the rules. It's not so easy for small start-ups.

These and other reasons leave Net phone providers few options. Most route customers' 911 calls to a nonemergency operator rather than directly to a better-trained dispatcher, and there's no guarantee the calls are reaching dispatch centers close enough to provide the most help. Vonage and other VoIP operators that want to offer a competitive 911 service hire companies like Intrado, a provider of what are known as enhanced 911 services, which include a caller's street address and phone number.

But none of these options attack the core of the problem. Net phones can work from any broadband connection anywhere, unlike traditional phones, which are typically rooted in one spot. A caller can take

Stop beating around the bush!! The Real Issue is....

so the neo cons are pissed that citizens want to discuss trade secretes over heavily encrypted VPNs.. oh, this is about patent infringement, right? no.. its about Kazaa and Cnet!! whatever... evil people are running america right into the ground !!! flaver flay was right! and take that gprs gsm device out of my dam car! if you want innovation give me a living wage job and stay out of my phone calls!!