TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Psst: Traditional 911 Doesn't Always Work, Either

Re: Psst: Traditional 911 Doesn't Always Work, Either

Tony P. (kd1s@nospamplease.cox.reallynospam.net)
Sat, 28 May 2005 10:37:11 -0400

In article <telecom24.232.2@telecom-digest.org>, jack-
yahoogroups@withheld_on_request says:

> Quick, somebody let Mike Cox (our Michigan Attorney General) know
> about this, so he can threaten a real phone company with a lawsuit
> instead of picking on VoIP companies ...

> http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/63909

> Psst: Traditional 911 Doesn't Always Work, Either Some think VoIP
> carriers are getting a bad rap.

> While the impression is there's been a rash of deaths thanks to bad
> VoIP 911 connectivity, the truth is many of the "baby death" cases
> (like this one http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/63372 ) are
> more rhetoric than substance. An interesting discussion in our VoIP
> forum http://www.broadbandreports.com/forum/remark,13491142 , on how
> traditional 911 systems often fail (see Boston Herald
> http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=84679
> without so much as a peep from the FCC or Congress, who've jumped all
> over VoIP.

> Article + reader comments at:
> http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/63909

> How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home:
> http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html

> If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/

The Boston Herald story was interesting. But in that case it was
probably Intrado that dropped the ball, not Verizon. In any case, this
all demonstrates that E-911 is a complex system, and complex systems
fail all the time.

But the general consensus is that the incumbent carriers are trying to
do one of two things. Either they're trying to throw off the yoke of
what little regulation still exists, or they're trying to kill VoIP
providers. I'd bet on the latter.

Right now the incumbent carriers are playing all sort of games because
their revenue streams are being threatened. Just look at the efforts
they've thrown in to killing government owned metropolitan 802.11
networks.

Instead of lowering prices and investing in research and development,
the incumbents would rather rake everyone over the coals in search of
profit.

It isn't that profit is a bad, just that excessive profit rankles,
particularly when used as the reason for a corporation to behave in an
abhorrent manner.

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