WASHINGTON-FCC Chairman Kevin Martin wants the agency to address how consumers will be able to access 911 when using Voice over Internet Protocol technology. As such, he told lawmakers he plans to include the item at a Federal Communications Commission meeting this month.
“I immediately asked our staff to develop a plan on this,” said Martin. “I want to do it by May.”
Martin was responding to a blistering set of questions from Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) during a budget hearing. “Is there some way the FCC can warn customers about Vonage to not use Vonage?” Kirk demanded of Martin.
Martin said the FCC was limited in its authority to regulate marketing, but because the commission had said VoIP was an interstate service and thus under federal jurisdiction, the FCC is obligated to do something.
What that is has yet to be determined, and Martin would not elaborate further. He told reporters he must present something to the rest of the commission by Thursday for it to be considered at the May 19 meeting.
Activity on the VoIP 911 issue had been occurring under the radar since Martin issued his directive to his staff in March. Martin told Kirk he became concerned about Vonage’s VoIP service after hearing about a Houston incident where two parents were shot and their daughter could not dial 911 from their home phone because they had switched their service to Vonage. This incident prompted the Texas attorney general to sue Vonage for deceptive advertising.
Voicemail and e-mail requests to Vonage for comment were not returned.
Kirk became aware of the situation after hearing about a test conducted by the Libertyville, Ill., Fire Department. The Libertyville test was described in a press statement released by Kirk’s office following his questioning of Martin.
“Coordinating a test, the fire department instructed a resident that uses Vonage to dial 911. After four rings, a Vonage operator answered the call. After a prolonged conversation which required the active participation of the caller, Vonage transferred the call to a non-911, 10-digit telephone line in Libertyville’s 911 Communication Center. The process took over four minutes and only information exchanged verbally could be shared. The Libertyville Fire Department proceeded to make a 911 call from a `normal’ telephone line. It was received by the call center in nine seconds over the 911 trunk lines that automatically include the caller’s telephone number and location on the 911 terminal, which is immediately forwarded to responding emergency units,” according to the release from Kirk’s office.
Vonage has recently touted agreements it has entered into with Bell operating companies to allow it to have access to the 911 system. For its part, Verizon Communications Inc. said last week that it is developing a way for VoIP services, including its own VoiceWing, to be directly connected to 911. It plans to test the system this summer in New York and hopes to make it available in its entire service territory.
“Working with VoIP companies and their vendors, we have identified a means to route VoIP calls so that they appear in emergency response centers much the way wireline and wireless 911 calls do,” said Michael O’Connor, Verizon executive director of federal regulatory affairs. “With the recent and rapid growth of VoIP service, we needed to find a way to integrate VoIP providers into the E911 system in a manner that would reliably serve VoIP end users and that at the same time would not compromise the safety and reliability of the E911 system for other users.”
The Verizon solution will still not solve one of the trickiest problems with VoIP 911 access-mobile laptops. The solution will still require users to tell the computer its location so that proper 911 call routing can take place.
Martin implied a location requirement will not be required to offer mobile VoIP 911 access due to the technical limitations.
Both Vonage and Verizon recently said they warn customers that access to 911 will not be the same as access to 911 from their wireline or wireless phones. Other VoIP providers refuse to offer their services to customers who want to install the services on laptops.
