TMCnet News

VoIP Service Providers Face 'Soft Landing' with FCC E911 Cutoff Extension
[September 01, 2005]

VoIP Service Providers Face 'Soft Landing' with FCC E911 Cutoff Extension


By TED GLANZER
TMCnet Communications and Broadband Columnist
 
PSTN-connected VoIP service providers will not face "Armageddon" when (if?) the Federal Communications Commission starts enforcing its E911 subscriber notification cutoff deadline, according to an industry expert.


 
Briefly, the FCC issued VoIP providers a 30-day extension - until Sept. 28 - to obtain notification from 100 percent of their subscribers acknowledging that they understand the possible problems they may face when dialing 9-1-1 emergency service.

 
The industry fallout if it is enforced, however, will be of the soft, not nuclear, variety for two reasons, Eureka/InfoHighway CEO Raul Martynek told TMCnet in a recent interview.
 
First, Martynek noted that service providers have already obtained most, if not all, of their confirmations from their subscribers in which they acknowledge the risks associated with dialing 911 on their VoIP service.
 
"Most people have complied," Martynek said, adding that his company, Eureka/InfoHighway, a CLEC located in the Northeast, has obtained acknowledgements from 100 percent of its VoIP subscribers.
Martynek said that 96 percent of Vonage's customers have provided acknowledgements.  
 
Second, VoIP service providers that fail to obtain confirmations have the ability to institute a "soft disconnect procedure," in which all non-E911 calls are intercepted and sent to the provider's customer service department, Martynek said.
 
The customer service department may then instruct subscribers as to what they must do to restore their service.  Calls to 911 would continue to go to the appropriate public service answering point.
 
"It was something the FCC had to do so that the impact [on service providers] was smaller," Martynek said.
 
The real fun, however, will start for interconnected VoIP providers once the FCC's notification requirements are behind them, according to Martynek.
 
Specifically, VoIP providers face the challenge of how the network deals with recognizing the location of its nomadic and mobile subscribers. 
 
-----
 
Ted Glanzer is assistant editor for TMCnet. For more articles by Ted Glanzer, please visit:
 
 

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]