Push for full 911 access for VoIP providers

Emergency dispatchers and Vonage urged senators this week to pass a bill that would ensure that all VoIP customers can dial 911, InfoWorld reports.

The IP-Enabled Voice Communications and Public Safety Act was introduced in January by Sen. Bill Nelson to fix those problems. The bill would require telecom companies that control 911 facilities to connect to VoIP providers and would protect dispatch centers from legal liability.

"By including access provisions in the legislation, you ensure that the 911 system remains a public trust, not a tool to block competition," Vonage chief counsel Sharon O'Leary said during a hearing before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.

Nelson said the FCC's action to require e-911 from VoIP providers didn't completely address the issue. "There are some holes we need to fill," he said.

In recent years, there have been multiple reports of VoIP customers attempting to dial 911, not realizing that their service did not support the emergency dialing capability. Some VoIP providers have offered 911 service to all or nearly all of their customers; others have had difficulty meeting the FCC requirements.

Emergency dispatchers said Vonage shouldn't be able to offer service if they can't offer 911.

The public expects 911 service to be available when they pick up the phone, said Wanda McCarley, president of the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International and a dispatch trainer in Fort Worth, Texas. "There is no room for error," she said. "Nine-one-one must not be an afterthought to new consumer services."

Other providers pointed out that is some rural areas, landlines don't have access to enhanced 911, which gives dispatchers the location of the call. And 40 percent of U.S. counties do not have access to enhanced 911 for mobile phones.