https://urgentcomm.com/wp-content/themes/ucm_child/assets/images/logo/footer-new-logo.png
  • Home
  • News
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Multimedia
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Galleries
    • IWCE’s Video Showcase
    • IWCE 2022 Winter Showcase
    • IWCE 2023 Pre-event Guide
  • Commentary
    • Back
    • Commentary
    • Urgent Matters
    • View From The Top
    • All Things IWCE
    • Legal Matters
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Resources
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Reprints & Reuse
  • IWCE
    • Back
    • IWCE
    • Conference
    • Special Events
    • Exhibitor Listings
    • Premier Partners
    • Floor Plan
    • Exhibiting Information
    • Register for IWCE
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Statement
    • Cookie Policy
  • Related Sites
    • Back
    • American City & County
    • IWCE
    • Light Reading
    • IOT World Today
    • Mission Critical Technologies
    • TU-Auto
  • In the field
    • Back
    • In the field
    • Broadband Push-to-X
    • Internet of Things
    • Project 25
    • Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet
    • Virtual/Augmented Reality
    • Land Mobile Radio
    • Long Term Evolution (LTE)
    • Applications
    • Drones/Robots
    • IoT/Smart X
    • Software
    • Subscriber Devices
    • Video
  • Call Center/Command
    • Back
    • Call Center/Command
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • NG911
    • Alerting Systems
    • Analytics
    • Dispatch/Call-taking
    • Incident Command/Situational Awareness
    • Tracking, Monitoring & Control
  • Network Tech
    • Back
    • Network Tech
    • Interoperability
    • LMR 100
    • LMR 200
    • Backhaul
    • Deployables
    • Power
    • Tower & Site
    • Wireless Networks
    • Coverage/Interference
    • Security
    • System Design
    • System Installation
    • System Operation
    • Test & Measurement
  • Operations
    • Back
    • Operations
    • Critical Infrastructure
    • Enterprise
    • Federal Government/Military
    • Public Safety
    • State & Local Government
    • Training
  • Regulations
    • Back
    • Regulations
    • Narrowbanding
    • T-Band
    • Rebanding
    • TV White Spaces
    • None
    • Funding
    • Policy
    • Regional Coordination
    • Standards
  • Organizations
    • Back
    • Organizations
    • AASHTO
    • APCO
    • DHS
    • DMR Association
    • ETA
    • EWA
    • FCC
    • IWCE
    • NASEMSO
    • NATE
    • NXDN Forum
    • NENA
    • NIST/PSCR
    • NPSTC
    • NTIA/FirstNet
    • P25 TIG
    • TETRA + CCA
    • UTC
Urgent Communications
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • News
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Omdia Crit Comms Circle Podcast
    • Galleries
    • IWCE’s Video Showcase
    • IWCE 2023 Pre-event Guide
    • IWCE 2022 Winter Showcase
  • Commentary
    • Back
    • All Things IWCE
    • Urgent Matters
    • View From The Top
    • Legal Matters
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Reprints & Reuse
    • UC eZines
    • Sponsored content
  • IWCE
    • Back
    • Conference
    • Why Attend
    • Exhibitor Listing
    • Floor Plan
    • Exhibiting Information
    • Join the Event Mailing List
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Cookie Policy
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Statement
  • Related Sites
    • Back
    • American City & County
    • IWCE
    • Light Reading
    • IOT World Today
    • TU-Auto
  • newsletter
  • In the field
    • Back
    • Internet of Things
    • Broadband Push-to-X
    • Project 25
    • Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet
    • Virtual/Augmented Reality
    • Land Mobile Radio
    • Long Term Evolution (LTE)
    • Applications
    • Drones/Robots
    • IoT/Smart X
    • Software
    • Subscriber Devices
    • Video
  • Call Center/Command
    • Back
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • NG911
    • Alerting Systems
    • Analytics
    • Dispatch/Call-taking
    • Incident Command/Situational Awareness
    • Tracking, Monitoring & Control
  • Network Tech
    • Back
    • Cybersecurity
    • Interoperability
    • LMR 100
    • LMR 200
    • Backhaul
    • Deployables
    • Power
    • Tower & Site
    • Wireless Networks
    • Coverage/Interference
    • Security
    • System Design
    • System Installation
    • System Operation
    • Test & Measurement
  • Operations
    • Back
    • Critical Infrastructure
    • Enterprise
    • Federal Government/Military
    • Public Safety
    • State & Local Government
    • Training
  • Regulations
    • Back
    • Narrowbanding
    • T-Band
    • Rebanding
    • TV White Spaces
    • None
    • Funding
    • Policy
    • Regional Coordination
    • Standards
  • Organizations
    • Back
    • AASHTO
    • APCO
    • DHS
    • DMR Association
    • ETA
    • EWA
    • FCC
    • IWCE
    • NASEMSO
    • NATE
    • NXDN Forum
    • NENA
    • NIST/PSCR
    • NPSTC
    • NTIA/FirstNet
    • P25 TIG
    • TETRA + CCA
    • UTC
acc.com

content


Public safety gets its wish

Public safety gets its wish

FCC requires voice-over-IP providers to offer customers 911 service
  • Written by Urgent Communications Administrator
  • 1st June 2005

U.S. public safety answering points, or PSAPs, should start receiving 911 calls from voice-over-IP customers within six months, thanks to an order passed unanimously by the FCC during its May 19 meeting.

The commission’s 4-0 vote requires VoIP companies that connect calls to the public network to provide emergency calling service through the existing E911 system while providing location and call-back information. Currently, many VoIP providers — including Vonage, easily the largest independent VoIP company — offer 911 only as an option, and calls are sent to PSAPs’ administrative lines without location information instead of being routed to lines answered by trained emergency call takers.

The order represented a fundamental shift by the FCC from its previous “hands-off” policy regarding VoIP offerings. In November 2004, the FCC asserted its jurisdiction over IP-based communications, effectively blocking state efforts to regulate VoIP providers.

Commissioner Michael Copps characterized the November decision as “pre-emption without policy,” as the then Michael Powell-led commission seemed willing to let VoIP providers conduct business without regulation. Copps said the legal arguments about whether VoIP should be treated as a regulated telecom service or an unregulated information service missed the point.

“The fact is, we’ve spent so much time splitting hairs that we’ve endangered the public’s safety,” Copps said.

The order also marked the first major action taken by the commission under the leadership of Republican Kevin Martin, who replaced Powell as FCC chairman in March.

“Anyone who dials 911 has a reasonable expectation that they will be connected to an emergency operator, regardless of the technology they use,” Martin said.

Democratic Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein echoed this sentiment.

“When someone calls 911, clearly they think they are connecting to emergency personnel,” Adelstein said. “We’re going to make sure that happens, as quickly as possible.”

Officially, the ruling calls for VoIP providers to comply with the 911 guidelines within 120 days after the order is published in the Federal Register. An FCC official told reporters that Federal Register publication is a “priority” for the commission and is expected to occur within 45 days.

Although the order was drafted and adopted much more quickly than most proceedings (see timeline), the accelerated pace was not enough to suit Cheryl Wallers of Deltona, Fla., who told the commission her 3-month-old daughter died on March 24 because she was unable to dial 911 from her Vonage phone. Waller said she had set up 911 as Vonage had instructed, only to learn after her daughter’s death that the Vonage advertised “911” service directed calls to a sheriff’s line answered only during normal business hours.

“While 120 days is a reasonable number of days to compel compliance, 120 days is 120 days too many to continue to allow these companies to advertise a life-dependent service that they admittedly do not provide,” Waller said. “One hundred and twenty days is seven days longer than my daughter lived. She died at 113 days [old] because I couldn’t reach 911.”

Waller said she believes Vonage “purposely deceived” her with advertisements indicating that its 911 calls would be routed to emergency call takers at the appropriate PSAP. Such claims have been the foundation of consumer-protection lawsuits filed against Vonage in the states of Texas and Connecticut.

Before the order becomes effective, VoIP providers must explain to existing and potential customers any differences between their 911 offering and the emergency-calling service provided by incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs). Exactly what type of disclosure VoIP providers would be required to execute was not detailed.

“I think it’s bracketed between what Vonage does today and the cigarette packaging that says, ‘These will kill you,’” said Jim Cavanagh, global telecom network and security consultant for The Consultant Registry.

Cavanagh said the commission’s action was generally expected but said he was alarmed that VoIP providers were not required to pay the fees that pay for the 911 system. However, Vonage spokeswoman Brooke Schulz said her company is willing to pay fees wherever it is given access to the selective routers that direct emergency calls to the appropriate PSAP — infrastructure typically owned by an ILEC.

Although the FCC order requires VoIP companies to provide 911 through the traditional emergency-calling network, the item does not require ILECs to let VoIP companies access the system directly. However, the FCC reiterated an existing rule that requires ILECs to provide 911 access to CLECs.

Most observers believe independent VoIP providers will be able to access 911 through the CLEC that terminates their calls on the public network. However, Schulz said Vonage has pursued a different option, negotiating 911 access deals with Qwest Communications and Verizon Communications. Similar agreements are expected with SBC Communications and BellSouth in the near future, she said.

Schulz said meeting the FCC’s deadline will be challenging to Vonage, which expects to spends “tens of millions” of dollars on new equipment and about $1 million annually in additional operating costs to meet the 911 mandate.

Despite these extra expenses, Schulz said Vonage will not increase prices for its consumer packages.

“Not for us,” she said. “We’re big enough to afford the hefty fees and stuff.”

VoIP companies knew they would need to offer 911 to compete against traditional phone companies, so the FCC ruling should not be a shock to their plans, said Andy Regitsky, president of Regitsky & Associates.

“I believe most of these [VoIP] folks felt like they were going to have to do it, although maybe not this quickly,” Regitsky said. “These are costs we anticipated for the companies.”

But other industry prognosticators were not as optimistic about the future of independent VoIP providers in the wake of the FCC’s 911 ruling. Leading VoIP advocate Jeff Pulver wrote on his Web site blog that “such a ruling could have the one-sided effect of removing the unaffiliated voice-over-broadband service providers from the marketplace and so will begin the era of the ‘death of the local VoBB service provider.’”

Regitsky said he does not believe the 911 decision alone will have a severe negative impact on independent VoIP providers but expressed concern that the ruling could set a precedent for VoIP companies to be subject to other fees and taxes paid by traditional phone companies, such as universal-service charges. If such a scenario occurs, VoIP providers could lose their pricing advantage in the marketplace, he said.

Many industry observers believe the 911 tide began to turn against VoIP providers in February. Shortly after Houston teen Joyce John was unable to dial 911 from her family’s Vonage phone, the National Emergency Numbering Association (NENA) stopped supporting VoIP providers’ practice of delivering 911 calls to PSAPs’ administrative lines, characterizing the practice as “unacceptable.”

NENA President Bill McMurray applauded the FCC’s VoIP 911 action.

“It’s a good day because voice-over the-Internet providers have embraced the idea that this is something that has to get done,” McMurray said. “If it looks like a duck, it’s going to have to act like a duck.”

FCC’S PATH TO A VOIP 911 RULING

FEB. 2: Houston teen Joyce John is unable to call 911 from her family’s home after her parents suffer gunshot wounds from an intruder.

FEB. 17: NENA declares routing of VoIP 911 to PSAPs’ administrative lines to be “unacceptable.”

MARCH 22: Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott files a lawsuit against Vonage for deceptive trade practices in its ads regarding its 911 service.

MARCH 24: 3-month-old Julia Waller of Deltona, Fla., dies after her mother was unable to call 911 from a Vonage phone.

APRIL 14: Vonage tells the FCC that Qwest Communications has agreed to let the VoIP provider access its 911 infrastructure.

APRIL 26: FCC Chairman Kevin Martin tells Congress he plans to address VoIP 911 issue in May.

MAY 19: FCC requires VoIP companies to provide emergency calling through the 911 infrastructure.

Sources: FCC, NENA

Tags: Commercial Regulation content Policy Public Safety Wireless Networks

Most Recent


  • Verizon officials highlight role of 5G tech for responders during IWCE keynote
    LAS VEGAS—As the public-safety sector continues to expand its use of data-intensive applications, developments in 5G can provide the low-latency, high-bandwidth connectivity to meet these needs, Verizon officials said yesterday during a keynote address at IWCE 2023. Bryan Schromsky, managing partner for Verizon’s public-sector unit, noted that the carrier plans to complete its deployment of […]
  • Rescue 42 launches miniCRD deployable for FirstNet
    Rescue 42 yesterday announced the launch of its miniCRD (mCRD) for FirstNet, which provides much of the functionality of the company’s Compact Rapid Deployable at a much lower cost.and in an even more portable form factor—two ruggedized cases that are about the size of checked luggage. Rescue 42 CEO Tim O’Connell said the mCRD (pictured […]
  • IWCE 2023
    Safer Buildings Coalition conducts annual event at IWCE 2023
    A common theme ran through the Safer Buildings Coalition’s annual meeting Monday night during IWCE 2023 at the Las Vegas Convention Center—strength through collaboration. “The perception is that the challenge is ‘out there,’ and someday, maybe the challenge will come here,” said Billy Bob Brown Jr., executive assistant director for emergency communications within the Cybersecurity […]
  • Public safety gets its wish
    IWCE speakers debate state of public-safety interoperability
    LAS VEGAS—Achieving comprehensive interoperability for mission-critical communications used by U.S. public-safety agencies continues to be an elusive goal, according to speakers addressing the topic during a Monday session at the IWCE 2023 event in Las Vegas. Some view interoperability as the technical ability for one person to communicate with another, no matter what device or […]

Leave a comment Cancel reply

To leave a comment login with your Urgent Comms account:

Log in with your Urgent Comms account

Or alternatively provide your name, email address below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • New Orleans-area 911 center inks multiyear APEX deal with Carbyne to replace call-handling system
  • Public safety gets its wish
    Newscan: Feds recover millions from pipeline ransom hackers, hint at U.S. Internet tactic
  • Cyber is the new Cold War, and AI is the arms race
  • Private wireless networks in the US start going public

Commentary


Updated: How ‘sidelink’ peer-to-peer communications can enhance public-safety operations

  • 1
27th February 2023

NG911 needed to secure our communities and nation

24th February 2023

How 5G is making cities safer, smarter, and more efficient

26th January 2023
view all

Events


UC Ezines


IWCE 2019 Wrap Up

13th May 2019
view all

Twitter


UrgentComm

Gallery: The last day of IWCE 2023 dlvr.it/SllQKJ

30th March 2023
UrgentComm

Video: Opening of the Expo Hall on day three of IWCE 2023 dlvr.it/SlkyNy

30th March 2023
UrgentComm

Verizon officials highlight role of 5G tech for responders during IWCE keynote dlvr.it/Slkh9n

30th March 2023
UrgentComm

Day three of IWCE 2023 features the opening of the Expo Hall dlvr.it/Slhgvr

30th March 2023
UrgentComm

Gallery: The Expo Hall opens on day three of IWCE 2023 dlvr.it/SlhfPT

29th March 2023
UrgentComm

Rescue 42 launches miniCRD deployable for FirstNet dlvr.it/SlgdtY

29th March 2023
UrgentComm

RT @IWCEexpo: 📽️ More sights from Day 2 at #IWCE23. It's been a fantastic start so far... Thanks to you! Tomorrow is another awesome spea…

29th March 2023
UrgentComm

RT @IWCEexpo: Ildefonso De La Cruz Morales, Principal Analyst-Critical Communications @OmdiaHQ takes the stage and kicks off tonight’s Keyn…

29th March 2023

Newsletter

Sign up for UrgentComm’s newsletters to receive regular news and information updates about Communications and Technology.

Expert Commentary

Learn from experts about the latest technology in automation, machine-learning, big data and cybersecurity.

Business Media

Find the latest videos and media from the market leaders.

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our digital and print audiences? Learn more here.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • American City & County
  • IWCE
  • Light Reading
  • IOT World Today
  • Mission Critical Technologies
  • TU-Auto

WORKING WITH US

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Events
  • Careers

FOLLOW Urgent Comms ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2023 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.