Typical arrogance of SBC. Sounds like AT&T in 1970.
What SBC is conveniently forgetting is that the 911 system belongs to
local or regional government (the residents and taxpayers) not the
@#!&* legacy phone company.
I presume Vonage is smart enough to make that case.
Jack Decker wrote:
> http://news.com.com/Vonage+may+route+911+call+to+Congress,+FCC/2100-7352_3-5647706.html
> 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?"
> Full story at:
> http://news.com.com/Vonage+may+route+911+call+to+Congress,+FCC/2100-7352_3-5647706.html
Tim@Backhome.org