Re: E-911 Making Headway in VOIP

Wayne Rash wrote:
>> Things change when you're not connected to the phone company's >> lines. Cell phone users, for example, are connected to their wireless >> provider. Until recently, the best the wireless company could do was >> to have a general idea of the area of the caller, accurate perhaps to >> several square miles. Now, with more accurate location being mandated, >> phones can be located using other means, including GPS (Global >> Positioning System) receivers embedded in many phones. > GPS works only outdoors in a relatively open area. It never works > indoors except perhaps when right next to a very large window with > plain glass. > This is the problem with technology that is not well understood by > those who propose using it for solutions under less than robust > circumstances.

The basic problem with the VOIP Technology, as it relates to 911 and related emergency services, is that the location of the caller needs to be known to help deliver the call to the desired destination. In the USA, calls to 9-1-1 (general emergency, police, fire, and ambulance) and related local service numbers (information, local services) would need to have the callers location available. Ideally, this would be in a form that the destination system could use. Local service numbers might need a community address. The USA definition of E9-1-1 would prefer a more specific address or possibly a less definite GPS origin.

There are many possible solutions to this problem. Unfortunately there is no widely established standard for a VOIP Device or internet connected computer system to specify its location. Since no standard exists, many competing standards are likely to emerge that will solve some portion of the problem but not for everyone. It will take a few years for a unified response to the problem of locating internet based callers.

I have seen solutions that enable VOIP Devices to be identified within known network bounds -- say a building or company address. Certainly VOIP Devices used as a replacement for standard wireline phones will be easy to locate. However, as such phones move into the wild, as a Vonage-like phone is intended to be used, the location quickly becomes unknown.

As a few unfortunate callers have learned, a standard such as "calling

911" is only as good as the underlying system that supports it. Hopefully the powers-that-be will encourage the necessary components to be linked together to establish a workable system. Until then, try to understand the limits of whatever system you choose to use and what the proper methods of contacting local services would be.

David