Why E911 acknowledgement PITA factor will help Skype and other softphoners

PITA=Pain In The Anterior (or whatever)

If you haven't gotten back to your IP Telephony provider yet with your acknowledgement that you understand the current limitations of VoIP E911 services, get ready to be pestered like hell.

Emails, service pop ups, phone calls, snail mail. They are supposed to cut you off, and they will keep reminding you of this.

All for good reasons - overarched as they are by the FCC's mandate that *all* VoIP subscribers must get back to their VoIP provider with this acknowledgement by August 29.

Keep in mind, though, that this acknowledgement requirement does not extend to most softphone providers, such as Skype, the Gizmo Project, and others.

All of us are consumers. And among our pet peeves, we hate to be pestered by the companies we do business with. Even if they are pestering us for our own good, and are being made to do so.

When we are being pestered, some of us react viscerally enough that we end our business relationship with that company, and go to a business that won't hassle us.

All this is my way of saying that the real winners in this approaching E911 deadline are the softphoners. They won't have to hassle you.

And for prospective customers interested in VoIP but intimidated or put off by all these acknowledgement rules, a relationship with a company that won't hassle you will be more comforting than completing a form that says front and center how limited VoIP currently is in terms of E911.