WASHINGTON-America Online Inc. said Thursday it will begin offering Voice over Internet Protocol telephony, and to blunt the criticism other VoIP providers have received, it joined the National Emergency Number Association and said it will offer enhanced 911 as a standard feature.
“We believe we can help consumers take full advantage of the revolution under way in Internet voice technology, but we need to make sure that we are doing it in a way that puts safety first,” said James Tobin, AOL vice president of voice strategy.
AOL will join NENA’s Operational/Educational Roundtable, which is working to develop VoIP E911 standards. Additionally AOL and NENA will launch a consumer-education program about VoIP E911.
“America Online has long been a technology leader with a real commitment to the safety and security of consumers. A great example of this is the fact that their just-launched VoIP service included E911 capability as a standard feature making sure users have access to emergency services,” said NENA President Bill McMurray.
The largest independent VoIP carrier, Vonage Holding Corp., requires its subscribers to specifically set up what it terms 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.
