Fwd: More on limitations of E-911 for residential VoIP

["CHRIS PEABODY" <>]

Interesting article on the "administrative" issues surrounding 911
routing and VoIP providers. Vonage and other's language is very
similar.
http://www.vonage.com/features.php?feature=911

Another VIP piece that the article does not tell you about is that
providers calls are typically going to PSAP administrative lines, not
the priortized 911 trunks from the 911 tandems.  This is an enormous
issue with the PSAP community right now, as many of these admin lines
are unmonitored and are certainly unprioritized. Vonage does highlight
this.



Chris Peabody
Director, Enterprise Network Communication Systems
L Robert Kimball & Associates
Washington, DC
301-296-4550  Work
301-529-3825 Cell

>>> 
>>>  08/04/04 06:20PM >>>
NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: STEVE TAYLOR AND LARRY HETTICK ON 
CONVERGENCE
08/04/04
Today's focus:  More on limitations of E-911 for residential 
VoIP

Dear 
,

In this issue:

* Emergency calling limitations clearly spelled out for AT&T's 
  VoIP service
* Links related to Convergence
* Featured reader resource
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Today's focus:  More on limitations of E-911 for residential 
VoIP

By Steve Taylor and Larry Hettick

In the last newsletter, we voiced our concerns about the lack of 
E-911 capabilities for the burgeoning residential VoIP market. 
We have been concentrating on AT&T's new CallVantage service for 
this discussion because AT&T is very upfront about this 
limitation, for which we applaud them.

Nevertheless, the limitations are rather severe. As with all 
providers, the power issue has to be addressed. In terms of 
E-911, AT&T further states in its terms of service:

"THE PSAP OR LOCAL EMERGENCY SERVICE DISPATCHER RECEIVING AT&T 
CALLVANTAGE 911 EMERGENCY SERVICE CALLS MAY NOT BE ABLE TO 
CAPTURE AND/OR RETAIN AUTOMATIC NUMBER OF LOCATION INFORMATION. 
THIS MEANS THAT THE DISPATCHER MAY NOT KNOW THE PHONE NUMBER OR 
PHYSICAL LOCATION OF THE PERSON WHO IS MAKING THE 911 CALL. 
THEREFORE, IF YOU DIAL 911 USING AT&T CALLVANTAGE SERVICE, YOU 
MUST IMMEDIATELY TELL THE DISPATCHER YOUR LOCATION (OR THE 
LOCATION OF THE EMERGENCY, IF DIFFERENT). YOU MUST ALSO TAKE 
CARE TO NOT DISCONNECT THE LINE, AS THE DISPATCHER MAY NOT HAVE 
A PHONE NUMBER TO USE TO CALL YOU BACK. IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO 
SPEAK AND DESCRIBE YOUR LOCATION, THE EMERGENCY DISPATCHER MAY 
NOT BE ABLE TO LOCATE YOU."

Clearly, this is a significant step short of E-911 capabilities. 
AT&T is also quite careful to point out that if you take your 
equipment with you when you travel, for instance if you are 
going to your vacation home, the address associated with your 
equipment will still send the 911 call to the location of the 
primary registered address for that equipment. While you can 
re-register the location of your equipment, the timeframe is too 
long (a few days) to be useful in most circumstances unless 
you're actually moving.

In fairness, we have to ask whether AT&T's service is any better 
or worse than anybody else's service. And the answer is that 
we'll have to investigate further.

For instance, in Time Warner Cable's FAQs, the company states 
that "safety is an important consideration and enhanced 911 
service is provided." However, we don't know exactly what it 
means by "enhanced."

So here we go. Will phone services soon rival ladders for the 
number of warning labels? AT&T's aforementioned terms of service 
also include a statement that "YOU AGREE TO ADVISE ALL 
INDIVIDUALS OF THIS LIMITATION WHO MAY HAVE OCCASION TO PLACE 
CALLS OVER THIS SERVICE FROM THE LOCATION AT WHICH YOU HAVE 
INSTALLED IT."

So, in the future, you'll greet your guests at the door saying, 
"Welcome! As soon as we review the phone services at our house, 
we'll be glad to offer you a glass of wine." That is, of course, 
unless you're in California where you'll have to provide them 
with an additional health warning about alcohol and other 
potentially hazardous substances that may be present.

RELATED EDITORIAL LINKS

E-911 and AT&T's Terms of Service
https://www.callvantage.att.com/cvterms 

Time Warner FAQs
http://www.nwfusion.com/nlconvergence466 
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Steve Taylor is President of Distributed Networking Associates 
and Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Webtorials.Com. For more 
detailed information on most of the topics discussed in this 
newsletter, connect to Webtorials.Com 
<http://www.webtorials.com/>, the first Web site dedicated 
exclusively to market studies and technology tutorials in the 
Broadband Packet areas of Frame Relay, ATM, and IP.  He can be 
reached at 
<mailto:>
 

Larry Hettick an industry veteran with over 20 years of 
experience in voice and data.  He is currently Vice President 
for Wireline Solutions at Current Analysis, the leading 
competitive response solutions company. He can be reached at 
<mailto:>
 
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