E911 services - 21st May 2005

E911 service in the US:

FCC decided to ask VOIP service providers to enable 911 services in next 4 months. It is the first regulation VOIP SPs have to apply, and of course the impact will be to make the service more expensive. VOIP SPs cannot make 911 services happen by themselves, since the incumbents control public safety answering points. Vonage urged the FCC to require carriers to give VOIP providers access to 911 routers and has found the best way to fix the problem: make a deal with incumbents (SBC and Bellsouth) to provide the service.