[asterisk-biz] Re: 911

[trixter aka Bret McDanel]

On Tue, 2006-03-07 at 11:26 -0700, Gregory Giagnocavo wrote:
> What I don't understand is why every VoIP provider wouldn't jump at the opportunity to sign up and offer 911 services to their subscribers. The FCC requires it, the subscribers want it, and subscribers will pay the $1.50 that it will cost to provide the 911 service. So, it's basically a no-brainer.

The telcos that provide the access to the psaps dont like the
competition and there is nothing in the FCCs order that requires them to
make it available, requires them to make it priced reasonably, requires
them to work at all with a voip provider.  As such not everyone can
provide it without going through a company that is reselling  the
service.  

If you issue a DID to a person that also allows outbound access you must
provide 911 even if that person is not in the US - something not
considered by the order.  

I think until these two things change there are going to be problems
with providing 911.  Further its an additional cost that I feel should
be optional.

If someone understands what they are getting into when they order voip
service, and someone accepts that, they should not be forced to purchase
services they do not want or have no intention of using. 

Take for example a company that has both pstn and voip service.  They
use the voip service for somethings but not for everything.  They can
provide 911 access via their direct pstn connection, why should their
voip costs go up so they can dial 911 via voip?

You mentioned the $1.50 cost, which you say subscribers will pay, what
about people that signed up for a specific price and now its going to go
up to provide this?  They may not desire that additional cost, yeah its
only $1.50/month per line but that is still removing some of the
competitive pricing that is out there.  And for companies like vonage
that have spent millions on advertising their price adding to that price
may cause them problems.  Not charging the customer for this will result
in them spending $1.5-2 milion additional per month.  Granted with that
volume they are likely to get a discount, but it still will cost them a
significant amount of money each and every month.

I think it was very wrong for the FCC to mandate that voip providers
have to provide a specific service that relies on other companies (LECs)
but not mandate that the other companies provide that service.  It has
to be a two way street.

-- 
Trixter http://www.0xdecafbad.com     Bret McDanel
Belfast Ireland +44 02890 996 461   Germany +49 801 777 555 3402
US +1 360 207 0479 or +1 516 687 5200
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http://www.sacaug.org/ Sacramento Asterisk Users Group
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