Take A Peek At My IP Service Agreement

I've just signed up forfor AT&T's IP-centricCallVantage Service. Upon completion of sign-up,abrowser window popped-up that detailed several key 911-related service issues.

Just so you know, I'll tell you what these service issues are.

The big mea culpa comes in the "Additional Important Differences" clause. It says: "From time to time, due to network congestion, you may have a greater possibility of receiving a busy signal or experiencing unexpected and/or longer answering wait times when you dial 911 Emergency Dialing with AT&T CallVantage Service than with traditional 911 calls."

To be fair, I have heard of few if any network congestion issues related to these services. This language may just have been included at the insistence of the lawyers. But if you have experienced busy signals due to IP network congestion, we should discuss the issue here.

Some other points raised in the document are best dealt with by common sense. These include the facts that:

Your 911 call may be routed to a different dispatcher than you might reach if you dialed 911 from your standard phone. This dispatcher will be at a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) designated for wireless services. Not to worry, though,if AT&T CallVantage has your correct address, the PSAP will correctly route your call to the appropriate first responder agency.

If you take your phone on vacation, you must use a different phone to dial 911.

If you call 911 from your CallVantage phone, you should mention your address first. That's because unlike traditional 911 services, the PSAP will not automatically be able to trace the call to the location you happen to be located at.

All this sounds like common sense.