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FCC Ready to Require VoIP Carriers to Provide 911 Service

May 17, 2005
With prompting from established telephone companies, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is preparing a rule that will require all VoIP providers in the U.S. to provide enhanced 911 service. But the commission is expected to take a hands-off approach at telling the Bell companies that they must cooperate with the VoIP providers.

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The commission is scheduled to issue the ruling at its open meeting May 19, requiring VoIP providers to implement 911 service later this year. The ruling is another victory for the Bell companies, which successfully fought off attempts by AT&T, MCI and others to gain access to Bell switching centers and networks at deeply discounted rates.

Thus, the VoIP providers -- led by Vonage, by far the largest VoIP-only provider -- will have to go hat in hand to the local telephone companies seeking access to their 911 systems, and they'll have to pay whatever tariffs the Bells attach to that access.

The development could put a serious wrinkle in the low-cost structure that pure VoIP providers have enjoyed so far -- and it's likely to mean that consumers will be paying more for VoIP service than the $20 and $30 bargain rates they've come to expect.

Attorneys general in Texas, Michigan and Connecticut have taken legal action against Vonage, charging that it does not clearly inform customers that they may not have reliable 911 access. Texas is the headquarters of SBC, which is also the dominant local telephone provider in Michigan and Connecticut.

Observers noted that it took the cell phone companies 15 years or more to begin offering 911 service. They questioned why the VoIP providers' feet are being held to the fire. The answer, many said, was that the incumbent Bell companies were eager to slow the growth of Vonage and other VoIP providers.

Enhanced 911 provides dispatchers in public safety centers with each caller's telephone number and street address, enabling them to dispatch rescue teams or police officers more quickly and reliably. Because VoIP works over the Internet, a telephone number is not restricted to a specific location and can be accessed anywhere the subscriber finds an Internet connection.

While a system to reliably provide an exact location for VoIP 911 calls does not yet exist, the FCC and other regulators want VoIP users to at least be automatically transferred to the 911 dispatcher in the locality they specify when signing up for the service. Currently, most VoIP providers transfer 911 calls to an administrative number, which may not be answered at all hours and which may not be able to quickly transfer calls to the proper dispatch center.

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