WASHINGTON-VoIP providers claim customers are informed that when they dial 911 using a Voice over Internet Protocol service, it is different than calling 911 from traditional landline or wireless phones.
“You can’t call it 911 because 911 means something special,” said Chris Murray, vice president of government relations for Vonage Holding Co., at an appearance last week at the National Press Club. Murray said he uses the term “access to emergency services.”
Verizon Communications Inc. offers a VoIP service known as VoiceWing. To use VoiceWing, customers must affirmatively give their locations and acknowledge they know the difference between VoiceWing 911 and landline 911 when they sign up for the service, said David Young, Verizon director of regulatory affairs.
Both Vonage and Verizon said they make clear to their customers that if they have VoIP installed on laptops and they travel, that the computers will not know that they are not physically at the addresses they indicated when they signed up for service.
Murray and Young were two of five panelists appearing at the National Press Club’s Tech Talk on VoIP.
Many have complained that Vonage is not clear about the differences between its “access to emergency services” and dialing 911.
“Even for those companies that do provide 911 service, it may not be the full service on which consumers rely. For example, the landline telephone system automatically provides 911 operators with the caller’s location, while the VoIP service may not. Landline telephone systems also route 911 calls through emergency phone lines while VoIP may route these calls to a general call center. Even when the VoIP service includes traditional 911 access, it may not be automatically activated, and consumers must take proactive steps in order to place a 911 call,” said Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox April 4. Cox’s complaints, which did not directly name Vonage, came a week after the Texas attorney general sued Vonage for deceptive advertising after a girl in Houston was unable to call 911 from a Vonage phone while her parents were being shot.
Murray said Vonage is committed to deploying 911 as soon as possible but that federal standards-such as those developed by the Federal Communications Commission for wireless-are necessary. He dismissed skepticism that wireless carriers had claimed to be committed to enhanced 911 but were slow in implementing the service until the FCC started enforcement action.
After listing how far Vonage has come in deploying E911, Murray, said, “I think that is a different flavor of good will.”
