[Asterisk-Users] VoIP dialtone?

[Adam Roach]

> I guess my question was a little deeper than that.
> Can I simply ditch the PTSN?

911 is the sticking point. Most commercial VoIP services
come with the disclaimer that they are *not* a primary
line replacement, precisely because of the liability
issues associated with providing emergency services.

For example, a typical configuration would be to not
care where the caller is from, and simply route calls
according to the country and city code, as appropriate.
If you dump "911" into such a system, it has no way
to route you to an appropriate operator. Sitting around
in Indiana talking to a 911 operator in Los Angeles
generally does you very little good.

That said, in controlled environments, some services
are now offering VoIP primary line replacements. The
only service I currently know that is doing so is
Vonage (http://www.vonage.com/), and it is doing so
only in very specific markets at the moment. Further,
the handling of 911 in their system is sub-optimal[1],
in as much as it doesn't dump you into the normal 911
queue, and the PSAP will not have any information about
your location. In, say, a medical emergency, I would far
prefer to be talking about the emergency itself than
trying to spell the name of my street.

Until this tiny, possibly life-or-death detail gets
sorted out, I'm probably going to have at least one
traditional phone line at all times.

/a

[1] See http://www.vonage.com/small_business/features_911.php