[blu] Re: VoIP quality -- 911 reliability

[Ben Jackson]

William D Ricker wrote:

 > We were so close to having universal Enhanced 911 service in this
 > country, and now folks are fleeing the incumbent telco to either
 > VOIP or cellular-only, which will really make the dispatcher / 
calltaker's
 > life harder again -- where are you REALLY calling from?
 > (the GPS in phone is crazy, only helps if you have open sky)

To be honest, we were never really close to having 'universal' e-911 
unless the LECs (Local Exchange Carriers) ran dialtone to every pair 
that was served out of each central office. Until then it is nowhere 
/near/ universal.

 > As noted, the FCC &c are forcing them to provide it ... as much
 > luck as they've had with the Cellular 911-enhanced deadline, I don't
 > take the 120 days as carved in stone.

Which, quite frankly, is sad. These VoIP companies merely provide an 
interface to the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network). They do not 
provided telephone service. Sadly, customers and their marketing 
deparments think otherwise.

 > Maybe reliable enough for single people, but if your girlfriend is
 > considering having kids, she should demand POTS with at least one
 > line-powered (no wall-wart, no special features) phone that "always
 > works" and will be easy for Jr. to hit 9-1-1 and say "Mommy can't
 > get up" into.

Preferably something made pre-1984, when phones were real phones and 
could survive anything. *grin*

 > POTS can save your life.   How much is that worth?  If you cancel
 > your POTS to save money, do you cancel your insurance too?

The question remains that why should turning off my phone service 
disable me from getting E-911 service?

 > FIRE Insurers should charge a sur-charge for people who rely on
 > cheesy off-brand imitation Enhanced-911 services at home.

Agreed. But, I think the blame lays squarely on the LECs. The FCC took 
the wrong tack on this subject. All of the problems that this created 
(What happens when I call from location X when my house is in location 
Y?) would simply be solved if the phone company merely ran dial tone to 
every pair on the switch.

At worse, the VoIP switches could have a special port to plug your 
copper into that if it senses you dialing 911 or if the power goes out, 
it dials the copper. (AT&T callvantage has something like this on their 
older adapters, if the power goes out, it switches to POTS)

But, the LECs are holding onto their little semi-monopoly and the FCC 
allows them to do it.

For the record: I am swimming in VoIP, I use about 5 companies for 
various services (outbound, inbound, different phone numbers, etc). I 
also have a VoIP-only mesh that my friends and I hook up on, PSTN free. 
I eat sleep and breath Astersk. However, despite all this, I keep my 
copper active for the reasons stated above and elsewhere in this thread. 
Plus, LECs do have their advantages. *grin*


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