Despite being bombarded with lawsuits over the ineffectiveness of E911 access when using its VoIP-based services, Vonage Holdings is taking action to solve this alarming problem. The company announced today that it teamed up with Verizon to set up what the companies call the first E9-1-1 territory-wide deployment of NENA's proposed I2 technical standard.
Vonage said that as a result of a successful collaboration between the two companies, the VoIP-based calling service provider will able to deliver both caller's location and call back number to emergency services personnel for 911 calls placed throughout Verizon's territory. Verizon claims to be the first ILEC to work closely with any nomadic VoIP service to ensure emergency calling keeps pace with VoIP technology.
"Verizon is a responsible steward of the E9-1-1 public trust, through their foresight Vonage is able to implement an E9-1-1 solution that will serve all customers," said Jeffrey A. Citron, CEO of New Jersey-based Vonage. "Unlike other ILECs, Verizon has not recommended Vonage use a CLEC for call delivery, as they recognize the significant limitations of this solution, as it does not accommodate for mobile customers or VoIP users on non-local phone numbers. It is important that all Vonage customers can use this solution, those with native phone numbers and those who chose phone numbers from other areas."
The move will enable Vonage customers who dial 9-1-1 to have their call routed to Vonage's 9-1-1 server using industry standard SIP protocol. The Vonage server would then query Intrado for routing instructions. The call is then directed to the media gateway connection to the Verizon network, over a dedicated physical circuit connected directly to Verizon's selective router that serves the Public Safety Answering Point ("PSAP"). Simultaneously, Intrado places the customer's address and telephone number into the Automatic Location Information (ALI) database. The supplementary special key unique to the call is included in signaling, and allows the PSAP 9-1-1 operator to pull the customer's address and phone number from the ALI database.
The three companies—Vonage, Verizon and Intrado intend to implement the E9-1-1 call routing system throughout Verizon territory within 6 months. To make this happen, Verizon will perform all necessary modifications and translations to the network elements in each PSAP service area that bundle the ALI and selective routing infrastructure. Vonage noted that the proposed solution is compliant with NENA's proposed I2 technical standard. Verizon's wholesale group has committed to offer Vonage the following elements on a commercial basis for the deployment of NENA-compatible Enhanced 9-1-1 within Verizon's 28-state territory:
- Direct trunking to the more than 100 Verzon-owned selective routers
- Provision of wireless components enabling non-local numbers to call 911 - ESRNs (pANIs) and ESQKs (pALIs)
- ALI-steering agreement for Intrado, Vonage's technology partner
"The work and cooperation between Verizon and Vonage is a true achievement for the industry, and we thank Verizon for making it all possible. Providing the means in which broadband phone companies like Vonage can offer E9-1-1 is a major accomplishment and we commend Mr. Seidenberg for his effort and influence by giving this project a high priority within the Verizon organization. Now Vonage can offer a true E9-1-1 solution on par with traditional telephone service, to all of its customers, regardless of the phone number they've chosen to use. Verizon has shown great leadership by working with new technologies to ensure that Internet-based communications services can interoperate with Public Safety Answering Points," concluded Citron.
Personally, I can’t wait until these guys finally get their act together and fix this alarming issue faster than pronto (for consumers’ sake). I also found pretty convenient for them to release this information just in time to battle the whole state to state attorney general lawsuit media fiasco…boy that was a mouthful!
Vonage Holdings Corp.
www.vonage.com
Verizon
www.verizon.com
| Johanne Torres is contributing editor for TMCnet.com and Internet Telephony magazine. Previously, she was
assistant editor for EContent magazine in Connecticut. She
can be reached by e-mail at jtorres@tmcnet.com. |
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