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VoIP still falls short on 911 service
2007-11-26
But for many small businesses using Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) systems, that call may get routed through third-party call centers, ring to an administrative line at the dispatch center or be picked up by an emergency operator who gets no information about where the call is coming from.
A lack of diligence by some VoIP companies and a lack of awareness by the businesses hiring them combine to create the risk of delayed emergency response, according to a local company that routes 911 calls for VoIP providers.
The result is 911 calls that require additional information before they're completed, potential confusion for emergency responders or businesses left asking their employees to use the landline dedicated to a fax machine to call 911.
"It's sad, but it may take an incident before something changes," said Justin Nelson, CEO of Denver-based Dash Carrier Services.
The industry has been struggling to make emergency VoIP capability that includes a caller's location -- known as E911 service -- available to every phone in a business environment, he said.
The Federal Communications Commission ordered VoIP providers to include 911 emergency calling that automatically provides emergency responders with the caller's address. The deadline for providers to comply was Nov. 29, 2005.
The mandate came after a national outcry over tragedies in which residential callers failed to reach emergency responders, not realizing their VoIP service didn't connect them to local police dispatchers.
Residential VoIP giants such as Skype and Vonage complied with the order, as did providers of VoIP services to large corporations, such as Longmont's Intrado, a division of West Corp.
But small-to-midsized VoIP providers specializing in the business market are less consistent with E911, Nelson said.
Federal regulators haven't clamped down and the business world's awareness of the issue is low, he said.
Businesses use of VoIP technology is more prevalent than among consumers. The Yankee Group, a Boston-based technology industry analysis firm, estimated that 20 percent of business lines use VoIP, and its adoption is growing thanks to improved technology and pricing.
The practices Dash has seen would appear to meet FCC guidelines for E911 service if users are educated about the limitations. But Nelson said he's seen companies relegate E911 education to stickers placed on phones advising users not to use the phones for emergencies.
Whether such tactics meet regulators' expectations isn't clear. The FCC lists no enforcement actions against VoIP companies on its Web site.
"Providers need to lead the way on these issues," said Rob Kenney, a spokesman with the FCC's Office of Public Safety and Homeland Security.
Dash Carrier Services started two years ago as Dash 911 to capitalize on the market created by the FCC order. Nelson's Clear Reach Networks VoIP hosting company bought Dash in August, and he said he was surprised to discover how many VoIP providers are stopping short of offering 911 service that works the way most users expect.
"They may be compliant, but they're not meeting the spirit of what I think most people thought the FCC meant," he said.
There are 160 VoIP companies using Dash Carrier Services for 911 compliance, and they operate about 400,000 phone numbers. But the VoIP providers have passed on address information for about only 100,000 of those numbers, said Kevin Mercado, Dash's president. Another reason for a lack of information is that companies allow the VoIP phones to be moved around with their offices or between buildings without telling their VoIP provider.
"There is this huge disparity between the numbers and the callers actually out there," he said.
Dash's system handles about 150 emergency calls a day from businesses around the country. About three calls -- 2 percent -- come through daily without location information.
Those calls are routed to an Ontario, Canada, call center of Northern911, and its operators glean the geographic location of the caller and route the call to the nearest emergency agency.
The National Emergency Number Association was instrumental in getting the FCC's E911 rule hammered out in 2005. The industry association is largely pleased with how compliance has been among residential VoIP providers, but it hasn't specifically tracked E911 compliance in the business world, said association spokesman Jeff Nedelman.
VoIP and wireless calling is changing the way 911 works for homes and businesses, he said. And while most cities have the ability to handle calls from both technologies, it's still spotty -- especially outside urban areas, he said. It's an issue people shouldn't overlook, he said.
"Demand is always going up," Nedelman said, adding that emergency calls now exceed 200 million a year.
By Greg Avery
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