Federal court denies VoIP 911 stay request
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied an emergency motion for a partial stay of the FCC’s E911 order requiring voice-over-IP service providers to provide E911 service by Nov. 28.
Four VoIP providers — Nuvio, Lingo, i2 Telecom and Lightyear Network Solutions — agree with the portion of the FCC order that requires the companies to proactively inform customers that their VoIP 911 services differ from traditional 911 offerings from wireline telephony carriers. However, they objected to the Nov. 28 deadline for implementing a nationwide solution.
Although an FCC public notice issued earlier this month provided some relief to VoIP providers by letting them keep current customers, it discourages companies from marketing VoIP services in areas where they do not offer E911 services.
Nuvio CEO Jason Talley has said that’s very damaging to the VoIP providers, especially because access to selective routers — typically owned by the incumbent telecom carriers competing with VoIP providers for customers — is a significant barrier.
