TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Vonage's $10-Million 911 Plan

Vonage's $10-Million 911 Plan

Jack Decker (jack-yahoogroups@withheld_on_request)
Wed, 04 May 2005 03:15:06 -0400

http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=11984&hed=Vonage%E2%80%99s+%2410-Million+911+Plan

Vonage will spend cash to work with Verizon and other operators to
offer emergency services.

Vonage will spend $10 million to start providing 911-style services
for its customers, partly by using Verizon's infrastructure to connect
callers with emergency dispatchers, the VoIP provider announced
Wednesday.

The investment is Vonage's first substantial attempt to close the
company's emergency calling gap. The cash is a relatively low price to
address a shortcoming that has become a publicity nightmare for the
company, which has spent tens of millions of dollars to market VoIP
service.

Vonage calls the investment a major undertaking, describing the plan
as 'the first domino to fall' in a plan to offer emergency services
nationwide. Vonage and Verizon will implement the system over the next
six months.

For now, the Verizon contract includes emergency service access in
Verizon's footprint. A Vonage call will be routed over the Verizon
network to connect to the Public Safety Answering Point, or PSAP. The
911 operator is then able to access a database of the caller's
personal information due to a unique key encoded in the call.

Full story at:
http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=11984&hed=Vonage%E2%80%99s+%2410-Million+911+Plan

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