FCC extends deadline another 30 days

This afternoon, the FCC extended VoIP subscribers E911 limitations acknowledgement deadline from this Monday to September 28.

Thousands of Internet phone users who have not yet acknowledged limitations to their providers' 911 service will get an extra month before their service is cut off.

Colleague Marguerite Reardon reports today that industry groups estimate that as many as 100,000 residential VoIP subscribers haven't formally acknowledged possible pitfalls in E911 access.

"The FCC deadline has sparked concern from the industry that the seemingly hard-and-fast cutoff rule might do more harm than good, leaving some customers, who were unaware of the requirement, suddenly stranded," she writes.

This is great news," said telecommunications industry analyst Jeff Kagan told Marguerite. But better would be to find another solution and within the 30 days. While we do need to address the E911 issues, and while users need to understand the problems, cutting off their phone service is no longer an option. This is 2005, for crying out loud."

Earlier today, I posted my recommendation that the FCC should give the industry another 30 days.

Can't say I'm not flattered.