VOIP article from St MN

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911 calls over Internet often get lower priority

Star Tribune

People who make emergency calls using new Internet telephone service are

often second-class citizens, says Fred Fischer, a St. police officer

who runs Ramsey County's largest 911 emergency call center.

When the 911 center gets calls from consumers using Internet calling

services provided by Vonage or AT & T, the calls don't ring the 911 phone

lines that are answered immediately, Fischer said. Instead, they come in on

nonemergency lines that get second priority and are crowded with more than

twice as many callers.

Worse, Internet emergency calls usually are more difficult to handle because

the 911 operator must ask for critical information: Who and where are you?

In a normal 911 call, that information automatically appears on the

operator's computer screen at the same time the call was answered. But with

most Internet calls, the information isn't transmitted at all.

" The benefit of the 911 system is that we know your location in the event

that you can't speak to us, " Fischer said. " We don't get that with the

Internet calls. "

Fischer's 911 call center problems are the result of conventional wired

phones being displaced by a new technology called Voice Over Internet

Protocol (VOIP).

VOIP uses a high-speed Internect connection to provide phone service

instead of a conventional telephone line. VOIP service, which appeals to

consumers because it provides extensive or unlimited local and long-distance

calling at discounted prices, converts the voice into digital bits that are

transmitted over the public Internet or a private data network. The bits are

converted back into a traditional phone signal just before the call reaches

its destination.

Not all Internet telephone service suffers from the problems Fischer

describes. But 911 officials say Vonage and AT & T's CallVantage service have

those difficulties, while Time Warner Cable's new Internet phone service

doesn't. Vonage didn't return a phone call seeking comment, while AT & T says

it's working on the problem.

" We recognize there are concerns out there, and we will resolve them, " said

Kerry Hibbs, an AT & T spokesman in Dallas. " We make very clear to our

customers that our CallVantage Internet phone service does not work the same

as traditional land-line 911. " Greater compatibility with 911 will be

introduced in some undisclosed parts of the nation this year, he said.

Changing the rules

Meanwhile, the Internet is revolutionizing phone service even if the 911

capabilities aren't quite ready.

" VOIP is changing all the rules of telecommunications, " said Steve Seitz,

government affairs director for the National Emergency Number Association, a

Washington, D.C., professional organization for 911 system operators and the

911 officials at phone companies. " Everyone, including the VOIP companies,

agrees that there is a social [public safety] obligation to provide 911

service. But this is a global problem, and we can't wait for five years of

regulatory fighting to solve it. "

Two complementary solutions are in the works: a Federal Communications

Commission (FCC) ruling on the responsibilities of VOIP providers, and

industry technological fixes that will improve 911 calling.

The FCC is expected to rule in the next few months on the broad question of

whether Internet phone service should be regulated at all. If the FCC

decides it should be regulated, it must decide what requirements there

should be for services such as 911, Seitz said.

At the same time, the FCC is expected to tell regional Bell telephone

companies such as Qwest how much access to their 911 call-handling networks

they must provide to VOIP companies. Qwest isn't eager to have the FCC make

such rulings. It has told the FCC it would rather have the telephone and

VOIP companies work out their own 911 policy, said LaFave, director of

public policy for advanced services, based in Denver.

Improving service

Technical improvements for VOIP companies are being developed by Intrado

Inc. of Longmont, Colo., which today helps Vonage and AT & T connect their

VOIP 911 calls to emergency call centers in the non-traditional way that

Fischer finds unacceptable. Intrado, one of about a half-dozen such 911

intermediary firms nationwide, said it hopes to introduce a new service

early next year that will help VOIP providers connect to the traditional 911

calling network, and thus eliminate the stigma of offering second-class

emergency calling.

Such changes can't come soon enough for Pollock, executive director of

the Metropolitan 911 Board, a St. organization that oversees 911

service for the seven-country metropolitan area. She's been upset by

occasional 911 lapses that are even more serious than the difficulties

Fischer encounters regularly, such as the routing of 911 Internet telephone

calls to the wrong answering location. In at least one case, a 911 call

placed through an Internet phone service was mistakenly routed to a State

Patrol administrative number instead of a 911 answering center, she said.

" That slows down the response to the call, " Pollock said, because the State

Patrol is not set up to respond to calls for ambulance, fire or local

police. " It's fairly misleading, in our opinion, to say that all Internet

telephone service is 911 compatible. "

But some Internet calling is 911-compatible. Time Warner Cable's new

Internet phone service, which is now being tested and should be widely

available within 90 days, routes 911 calls via Qwest's conventional 911

network to the nearest call center. As a result, the caller's name, address

and phone number automatically appear on a computer screen in front of the

911 operater.

That's principally because Time Warner has agreed, for now, to be regulated

by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission and has been certified by the

commission as a " competitive local exchange carrier, " or a company

authorized to compete with Qwest for local telephone customers. That

designation gives Time Warner access to a special Qwest call routing network

that handles 911 calls.

Launching quickly

The decision to submit to regulation as a phone company rather than operate

an unfettered VOIP service " was based on wanting to be able to launch our

phone service quickly, " said , Connecticut-based chief

counsel for Time Warner voice service. " We didn't want to be tied up in

litigation over our status, and we thought a lot of incumbent phone

companies would bring those kinds of suits. " Time Warner previously rolled

out its VOIP phone service in 15 other cities.

One reason Time Warner was able to gain 911 compatibility was it refrained

from offering two 911-incompatible VOIP features. It did not agree to lets

its VOIP phones be mobile (Internet phones from some other providers can be

plugged in anywhere in the country and still use the Internet) and it

disallowed out-of-region area codes, such as providing a Minneapolis

customer with a 212 area code normally associated with residents of

Manhattan in New York City. Having a 212 number would allow someone in

Minneapolis to dial Manhattan as if it were a local call, and out-of-region

area codes are a popular feature with some customers.

Intrado says phone customers shouldn't be denied those two features of

Internet calling and says it will introduce new technology next year that

makes those features compatible with 911 calls.

But 911 officials maintain a wait-and-see stance. For now their challenge is

to help consumers understand that VOIP 911 calls may not be as good as they

think.

" VOIP is a wonderful thing, and it allows you to make long-distance calls

dirt cheap, " Fischer said. " But I don't think the sellers of those services

always make their customers aware that they are not getting true 911 service. "