Excerpts from two articles follow:
By TechWeb News
Verizon Communications said it will provide VoIP providers with a solution that will let them use Verizon's enhanced 911 emergency calling system.
Problems handling 911 emergency numbers have been a major hurdle for VoIP providers, but positive movement in recent days by major landline carriers is being hailed by VoIP companies.
"Working with VoIP companies and their vendors, we have identified a means to route VoIP calls so that they appear in emergency response centers much the way wireline and wireless 911 calls do," said Michael O'Connor, Verizon's executive director of federal regulatory affairs, in a statement Tuesday.
The Verizon statement coincides with efforts by Qwest Communications and SBC Communications to solve the 911 problem with Vonage, North America's largest VoIP provider. The remaining former Baby Bell, BellSouth, is also said to be working on the problem. More than 90 percent of U.S. landline telephone service is provided by the former Bells. Their means of communicating with 911 dispatch numbers is not compatible with VoIP phoning, particularly where VoIP moves over cable broadband.
Verizon said its VoIP 911 service will be offered in New York City this summer, and, if successful, it will be replicated in additional Verizon locations.
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Vonage works with carrier to develop parallel emergency database to connect callers with emergency dispatchers. April 26, 2005
Verizon Communications said Tuesday it will test a major improvement to VoIP performance by directing its subscribers' 911 emergency calls to the appropriate authorities.
The dedicated system will not just route the calls to Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs), but will automatically provide the PSAP operator with the name and address of the subscriber associated with the telephone number.
The system is being implemented and tested in New York City with an eye to a region-wide rollout. According to Verizon, the system will be available to VoIP service providers in all of New York City by the summer. Verizon did not announce a specific timetable for a region-wide rollout.
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