Vonage May Route 911 Call to Congress, FCC

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By Ben Charny Staff Writer, CNET News.com

Internet phone provider Vonage may ask Congress and the Federal Communications Commission to help it solve problems with SBC over subscriber access to the 911 emergency call network.

SBC's decision not to work more closely with Vonage, made public Wednesday, may delay efforts to fix the problem that keeps a majority of U.S. Net phone providers from successfully routing 911 calls to the right emergency calling center. Many of those 911 calls are instead sent to non-emergency operators, with no guarantee the calls will reach dispatch centers close enough to provide the most effective help.

In mid-February, Vonage asked SBC, BellSouth, Qwest and Verizon, the nation's largest local phone companies collectively known as the Bells, to provide access to their 911 infrastructure within the next

60 days. At first, it appeared the logjam had been broken: SBC met with Vonage to work out the logistics; Verizon, the largest Bell, also committed to testing just such a system; and Qwest, the smallest of the Bells, began considering its options.

While Verizon and BellSouth are now cooperating, SBC has refused to do so, telling the FCC that Vonage and other Net phone providers need to develop a standard way to route the 911 calls appropriately. What Vonage was asking to test, SBC claimed, was a proprietary fix. "SBC can not agree to engage in numerous individual tests with each and every VoIP provider," it recently told the FCC, referring to the Net phone technology also known as voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). A spokesman wasn't immediately available for comment.

Vonage spokeswoman Brooke Schulz said Vonage is considering asking Congress and the FCC to demand SBC open up its 911 infrastructure to Vonage and other Net phone operators. In rebuking SBC's proprietary claim, Schulz said operators Packet8, AT&T's CallVantage and Verizon Communications VoiceWing Net phone service all use the same 911 products, "so how can SBC call what we're doing proprietary?"

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