Beating the September Mark: More Providers Join VoIP E911 Race

The FCC has mandated that all VoIP providers interconnected to the public switched telephone network provide E911 with their consumer VoIP offerings.

BY JOHANNE TORRES

TMCnet VoIP Minute Watch Columnist

A few VoIP technology providers have already announced that they have actually beat the September deadline set by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to have E911 access working so consumers can reach emergency personnel when using a VoIP-based phone. Specifically, the agency mandated that all VoIP providers interconnected to the public switched telephone network must provide E911 with their consumer VoIP offerings.

Among the companies that announced the access is up and running came Level3 Communications with an announcement towards the end of last month. The company said it expanded its E911 platform for VoIP to assist customers with FCCs compliance. Level3 said its implementing a new emergency-calling network system for so-called nomadic VoIP users, and plans to extend its E911 coverage footprint to more than 70 percent of the country by the end of 2005. Additionally, Level 3 plans to offer E911 functionality through its (3)VoIP Local Inbound service, which enables customers to purchase inbound local, IP-based calling services in selected areas throughout the United States.

Another company that joined the bunch is Vonage Holdings Corporation. I actually came across some news reports today that said the company set 10 million bucks aside to be used solely for its E911 efforts. The VoIP-based calling service provider began its E911 efforts by sending a letter to its subscribers during the last week of June.

The letter explained that the company has been routing 911 calls whether 911 has been manually configured or not (the company had previously provided users with instructions on how to do this manually). What seemed very interesting about Vonages move then was that the company arranged to play an automated response saying: "Stop. You must dial 911 from another telephone. 911 is not available from this telephone line. No emergency personnel will be dispatched" when users dialed the three digits.

You might also remember reading my article about Vonages partnership with Intrado a few months ago. Vonage arranged to team up with Intrado in order to fix the E911 dilemma. The VoIP provider even went as far as to claim that the service, along with E911 access capabilities, worked just fine in the state of Rhode Island. Vonages Jeffrey Citron explained last November that when Vonage customers dial 9-1-1 using Vonages VoIP connection, Vonage would route the call over to Intrado. Intrado would then route the call to an operator who will determine where the call should go in order to resolve the emergency in question. With this Vonage/Intrado system in place, Rhode Island emergency service dispatchers will be able to obtain callers call-back phone number (from IP) in case the call gets disconnected, complete name, and location when they dial 9-1-1.

Moving on to Intrado now, in addition to its partnership with Vonage, the company also announced a partnership with USA Datanet in November. Intrado partnered with USA Datanet to deploy its Emergency Calling Service (ECS) nationwide. USA Datanet provides long-distance voice; Internet access, and IP network services to 480,000 residential and commercial customers. With this move, USA Datanet will be joining other Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers and wholesale VoIP providers currently dealing with Intrado.

Intrado also made a significant announcement today about it deploying a new infrastructure to enable VoIP Service Providers (VSPs) to provide E911 service for their subscribers throughout New York City. The Longmont, CO-based company worked closely with city officials and local 911 service provider Verizon to complete the deployment. The company describes the deployment as the first of its kind to define a VoIP Positioning Center (VPC) implementation model that can help VSPs meet the FCC's pending deadlines. According to the companys announcement, the V9-1-1 Mobility Service, Intrado's VPC offering, allows VoIP providers to route their subscribers' 9-1-1 calls into the dedicated wireline E911 network.

VoIP provider Nuvio Corporation also made a new E911 announcement towards the end of February. The company launched E911 services for its NuvioCentrex product, Nuvios hosted IP Voice system. The system is available to broadband providers, cable operators, CLECs and VARs through Nuvios private-label partner program. The company claimed to currently offer E911 in over 1,500 rate centers servicing over 2,700 cities nationwide and has plans to deploy this feature in additional markets this year.

Nuvios E911 calls are routed as emergency traffic and provide computer-based caller information to emergency personnel at local Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs). Through its service, 911 calls are automatically transferred to the PSAP and the operators are presented with the persons telephone number and location, ensuring that callers receive the same response they are accustomed to from traditional 911 services.

Nuvio has been very involved with the E911 portion of the whole VoIP-based services regulation issue. The company even had its CEO testify in opposition to Kansas State Legislatures attempt to tax VoIP providers for 911. In February, Nuvios Jason Talley testified in opposition to proposed taxation of VoIP providers for 911 service by the State Legislature of Kansas. The VoIP-based service provider contested that in addition to being contrary to the FCC ruling, requirements for traditional 911 service were technologically impossible for VoIP. Nuvio also explained back then that it saw significant barriers to service implementation including call origination traceability and access to public safety answering points (PSAP).

Also joining the group came Dedham, MA-based RNK Telecom. The company also announced today that it will launch Edison, its E911 system. RNK described Edison as a potentially "life saving" emergency calling system for the companys VoIP resellers. RNK explained that Edison is a GPS-enabled system that will connect in-between a user's phone and VoIP connection, ensuring E911 systems continuously receive precise and updated information about the VoIP caller's location. RNK is currently beta-testing Edison, and plans to formally launch the service within 30 to 60 days.

Richard Koch, co-founder and CEO of RNK had this to say about the companys announcement today: "In the first phase, RNK's Edison will relay the nomadic user's precise geographical location, enabling RNK to quickly know if the user's VoIP unit has been moved. This addresses the FCC's concern that customers need not self-report their location when they move. In a subsequent phase of development, Edison will provide updated geographical location to the appropriate E911 systems via a pseudo-ANI. RNK will simultaneously update the emergency ALI database, providing the end user's address and phone number."

As you can see, there has been a significant response from VoIP technology providers regarding the FCC VoIP E911 order. Im sure we will see many more announcements to come in the next few weeks, as we get ready to count down the days until the September deadline. So stay tuned!

Level3 Communications
|www.level3.com

Vonage Holdings Corporation
www.vonage.com

USA Datanet
www.usadatanet.com

Intrado
www.intrado.com

Verizon
www.verizon.com

Nuvio Corporation
www.nuvio.com

RNK Inc.
www.rnktel.com

Johanne Torres is contributing editor for TMCnet. Follow this link to see more articles by Johanne Torres.

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