vonage 911 service

[Bob Worthy]

Did anyone see the email from Ken Kierchenbaum pertaining to the news
article about a Vontage customer dialing 911 when his home caught on fire
and they put him on hold?

 

[Norm Mugford]

Bob...a similar situation happened in Orlando
about a year ago......A parent could not get through
to 911...and a child died.

So much for saving money on long distance.
The customer's Life Safety is sacrificed.
Some people are "Penny wise and pound foolish"

A similar situation is going to happen in a place
of business, and potentially large groups of people
will be hurt or killed.

Norm Mugford

Did anyone see the email from Ken Kierchenbaum pertaining to the news
article about a Vontage customer dialing 911 when his home caught on fire
and they put him on hold?

I choose Polesoft Lockspam to fight spam, and you?
http://www.polesoft.com/refer.html

 

[Chub]

Did anyone see the email from Ken Kierchenbaum pertaining to the news
article about a Vontage customer dialing 911 when his home caught on fire
and they put him on hold?

I have not seen the email. I do not use voip and I've been put on hold many
times when calling 911. Unless they were routed to the wrong 911 how could
it be the fault of voip if the 911 center was overwhelmed and put someone on
hold?

 

[Doug L]

The 911 service in many areas is overwhelmed by people calling for
non-emergency reasons, I don't think being placed on hold by a 911 operator
is something thats exclusive to VoIP services.

Doug L

--

 

[Chub]

The 911 service in many areas is overwhelmed by people calling for
non-emergency reasons, I don't think being placed on hold by a 911
operator is something thats exclusive to VoIP services.

Doug L

not to mention the emergency reasons.

 

[Bob Worthy]

I have not seen the email. I do not use voip and I've been put on hold many
times when calling 911. Unless they were routed to the wrong 911 how could
it be the fault of voip

isn't voip a technology?

if the 911 center was overwhelmed and put someone on

hold?

now we are talking, not about technology, but facility capability and
staffing.

 

[Bob Worthy]

The 911 service in many areas is overwhelmed by people calling for
non-emergency reasons, I don't think being placed on hold by a 911 operator
is something thats exclusive to VoIP services.

Doug L

Scary thought....." 911, is this an emergency?" Yes!! Help! Help! My house
is on fire!!" "Please hold"(music on hold) "OK, where were we? Oh yes, that
will be one large pizza with cheese, sausage and mushrooms." "Is that all
ma'am?" "Add a large coke." "Pick up or delivery, ma'am?" "I'll come get it
when I am through with this other call."(click) "Ok, where were we?"
Hello....Hello...Hello...(click) "@#*%, I can't believe that rude SOB hung
up on me.

Fortunately, I have had to use 911 on only one occassion and I couldn't have
asked for more. Another time, I mistakenly dialed 911 when entering an area
code and hung up immediately. The call must have been redirected because the
local police department called me back very quickly to see if everything
was alright. Again, couldn't have ask for more. I guess I was lucky from
what is being said here. Something I will have to pay more attention to for
emergencies.

 

[Jen...tel]

Guys,
VOIP's 9-1-1 does not operate like landline emergency calls. VOIP
emergency calls may have to be routed through a regional or state
emergency center. Even if they have complied with FCC orders and have
moved that number to a reporting location as now required VOIP still
can't acces the actual 9-1-1 network and must depend on a city giving
them an alternate 7 or 10 digit number to call. If the city isn't set
up for this that number could be just the number to the general
operator. There is always the possibiity that the VOIP provider
answers 9-1-1 calls, find out what type of emergency it was, and
forwards the call to whatever number they have for that city. With
VOIP, there are so many things going on in the mix that you never
really know which was the cause of a problem.

 

[Chub]

Guys,
VOIP's 9-1-1 does not operate like landline emergency calls. VOIP
emergency calls may have to be routed through a regional or state
emergency center. Even if they have complied with FCC orders and have
moved that number to a reporting location as now required

sounds like you are saying it is required by law to forward call to your
local 911 center.
Nothing wrong there.

VOIP still

can't acces the actual 9-1-1 network and must depend on a city giving
them an alternate 7 or 10 digit number to call.

doesn't matter how many numbers you dial. The phone rings and they answer
"What is your emergency"
Just like all our central stations.


If the city isn't set

up for this that number could be just the number to the general
operator.

I seriously doubt there are many 911 centers that can't take phone calls.

There is always the possibiity that the VOIP provider

answers 9-1-1 calls, find out what type of emergency it was, and
forwards the call to whatever number they have for that city.

sounds like you're guessing now.

With
VOIP, there are so many things going on in the mix that you never
really know which was the cause of a problem.

so you are guessing.
C'mon Bob tell us what the email said.

 

[Bob Worthy]

"Chub" > wrote in message

so you are guessing.
C'mon Bob tell us what the email said.

Seeing as how I am not the computer Guru that some of you people are, I
forwarded it to you by email. Maybe you know how to get it on here for
everyone to see. I have trouble just getting my spelling right. Thank God
for spell check.

 

[Doug L]

This is the link to the story, Kens email was just a copy of the text from
this link

http://www.kstp.com/article/stories/S14441.html?cat=1

Doug L

 

[Bob Worthy]

What do you think about the statements in the article concerning strict
guidelines and Vontage, for instance, is not under these same guidelines? Or
is that some sort of territorial thing?

 

[Chub]

This is the link to the story, Kens email was just a copy of the text from
this link

http://www.kstp.com/article/stories/S14441.html?cat=1

Doug L

sounds like voip customers have to enter their own info into the emergency
system through some self serve portal or such. If there was any problem it
could have stemmed from that but it doesn't say for sure. Also doesn't say
for sure who put him on hold although he says it was Vonage. I guess you
get what you pay for.
Looks like there are other variables, sorry Jen, I may have jumped the gun a
bit.[nothing new there]

 

[Doug L]

To be honest I don't know, I was under the assumption that once a VoIP
customer had entered the information then any 911 call would automatically
be forwarded to a regional 911 call center. When I first read the email I
made a probably incorrect assumption that the call was put on hold by a 911
operator, not a Vonage operator.
In any event his house would have probably burnt down anyway.

I did find an article on 911 abuse and misuse which although not really
relevant to this thread had some interesting statisitcs regarding cell phone
use and the number of false emergency calls made to 911(US) and 999(UK)
emergency services.

http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/mime/open.pdf?Item=470


Doug L
--

 

[Bob Worthy]

Vontages contract, I believe in paragraph four, specifically spells out that
it is their 911 customer service feature, or something like that, I don't
have it where I am at right now. But it is a no liability type clause for
any failure of their 911 service. But hey no one reads anything anyway. Not
picking on Vonage, but in this arena their name spills out like ADT's.

 

[coord]

Here's the explanation from Vonage of how their system works..
http://www.vonage.com/features.php?feature=911&lid=footer_911

 

[Bob Worthy]

sounds like voip customers have to enter their own info into the emergency
system through some self serve portal or such. If there was any problem it
could have stemmed from that but it doesn't say for sure.

From my understanding, you have to very clearly state your location because
they cannot tell where you are at with the modem. You may be in hotel in
another state. They may know where it is supposed to be initially, but it is
portable and can be carried and connected anywhere. They really don't where
you are at. It is basically a mobil phone service. That was always one of my
concerns that a three year old is taught to dial 911 if mommy is on the
floor, which is OK with regular 911 service, but may not be able to give
clear information as to the location the call is being made from, which is a
requirement of the other company. I don't know, because of the portability
of the equipment, that redirecting the call is sufficient. Would it be?
..

 

[coord]

And...for what it's worth...

http://news.tmcnet.com/news/2006/02/27/1411667.htm

 

[Bob Worthy]

Here's the explanation from Vonage of how their system works..
http://www.vonage.com/features.php?feature=911&lid=footer_911

The only thing they left out was the cost for the service. There must be one
or they wouldn't give you a choice. And besides, it is nicey nicey they
give these guidelines, but does that mean you must educate everyone each
time they enter your home, i.e. house guests, kids and their friends, maids,
baby sitter, house sitters, etc. of the rules or just the consequences? What
people will do to save a couple of dollars. I am one that will always have a
pots line whether I use it or not, simply because I know it is there. I have
trusted Bell for the better part of 60 years, no need to drop them now.

 

[Frank Olson]

From my understanding, you have to very clearly state your location because
they cannot tell where you are at with the modem. You may be in hotel in
another state.

Or in Robert's case... another country.