The solution I came up with is to have a bare line from the phone company for an emergency backup. It's about $5/month from SBC but winds up being around $16 with all the taxes. For the voip and SBC phone together I am paying around $32 per month, which includes long distance, caller ID, call waiting, 3 way calling, voice mail and 3 phone numbers. Previously, I was paying the same amount for one SBC line with no long distance and no features except caller ID, so I think it's a pretty good deal.

It wasn't only because of 911 that I decided to have the emergency land line, but also in case of a power failure or cable outage or some other situation where even a cell phone may not work.

I had service with Time Warner in North Carolina and there is a part in the contract that states that you understand that there is no 911 service as a part of the service provided to you.

I got rid of it, it was lusy any way.

From what I understand, the issue is, as someone else mentioned, 911 can't tell where you are calling from when using a VoIP line. BUT if you just call your VoIP provider and tell them the address (i.e., your home) where you want 911 to come to, then you're covered.

Look, lets just be honest here for a second. This is about money, specifically lost revenue, and it is about control. It is also about something else. Common sense. We maintain a land line phone just for 911 service, nothing else. Our phone bill is a little over $23.95 a month. Compare that bill to the ones that we used to have, before VoIP. Between my wife, myself and our kids and calls to grandma and that stupid teen hotline number that kept popping up in our bill that my daughter swears she never called, our average bill was about $187 and change. Do I believe that it cost $187 and change to actually make those calls. No. Someone is really missing that money that I used to pay each month. Multiply my lost revenue by the potential VoIP customers and the traditional phone companies are getting very worried about their collective future.

people do stupid things like make phone service with no 911

... VOIP is the first opportunity to get rid of Big Brother. World wide communications with out government oversight it a dream. Every time the Governments of the world get involved a good idea turns into a nightmare. A few people benefit and even fewer put a lot of money in their pockets the rest end up holding the empty bag.
...The fact that I pay for a 911 access on my telephone is trash. At one time you could simply dial a zero and get an operator who could direct your call to the emergency services. Suddenly someone got a brainstorm and sold almost everybody on stealing money from everyone with a telephone. I already pay for the basic service. So what in the world justifies paying for something else. Nothing. Nothing has changed. Nothing is better. You were sold a bag of air and you pay for it every month.
...If someone wants to live in the sticks that is their privilege. To demand that they have help " on tap " whenever they want is insane. You can't have it both ways. Either you live independenly or dependently.
...Yea, one kid died and that is a shame, people die every day. But to blame VOIP is stupid.
...Take responsibility for your own actions. This lady did not plan for this type of problem and 911 would not have helped. There are alternatives for these type of emergencies. CB Radio had not gone away, is simple to install and operate and is a cheap as dirt. There are other resources. Find them and use them.
...To expect the world to rotate around your lazyness and stupidity is just not in the range of reality. Keep Big Brother out of VOIP.

VoIP services already have 911 service. When I was with Vonage, all I had to do was register for the 911 service. I was not automatic, but the instructions were simple. Anyone who has VoIP and doesn't have 911 is just not paying attention.

Now that the FCC has opened door for regulation of VoIP, how long wll it be before it's services will be taxed?

Obviously there must be some more money to be had from VOIP. If anyone is so concerned about having 911, just keep one landline and use VOIP for another line, the one that you would make your long distance calls. Of course, now the government has jumped in, so the costs will undoubtedly go up. If something is too good for consumers, you can usually bet the government will not let it stay that way for long. Also, the baby bells probably had a lot to do with this, and I'm sure they will pass along a charge to Vonage and others who need access to 911, if it can even work over VOIP.

This is funny. They're going to force 911 on VoIP providers. Yes, it's a good thing to have but what about those people who take their equipment and travel with it? It's only going to read the address they have registered with their VoIP provider. I agree with what most of the replies say about the Government crashing a good thing and the Phone companies charging way too much for basic service and long distance. Wait until more people start getting cellular phones and just bypass land lines all together. Then they'll really be hurting and wish they hadn't charged so much for such a basic service.

Another point. Vonage is only one form of VOIP. I use Skype to call from my home in Mexico to several countries. Soon, the USA may be the only country in the world I can not call because my VOIP service can not, or chooses not, to provide 911 in the USA. When is the US government going to realize it is not in charge of the whole world.

Considering throwing my US passport in the fireplace.

There's a simple fix to this. It's required that even if you do not have phone service, if you dial 911 on an inactive line it will still connect you. They could put a small PBX-esk system that sees that 911 has been dialed and then route that to their landline connection. No need to keep an extra line...

I still dont understand how they plan to make them implement it? Is it going to be like cell carriers? Is the customer going to be expected to sign a contract saying 911 will only be called when you are at home? I am all for access to 911 on VoIP phones since they seem to be hocking them in a "replace your land line" type manner, but I think maybe a little more thought about implementing it should have been put in to it. 120 days seems a little steep, maybe the FCC feels like it is missing the boat? And what about all the VoIP's that do not charge for any access? Am I now going to be required to have a 911 tracker on my laptop? I dont like it.

What Eric said applies only to cellphones, which can still connect to a tower without an account. It cannot apply to a landline phone where the phone company has shut down dialtone, because you have to have a dialtone to dial up anything including 911.

Jacqui, the free "VOIP" services are the old computer generated calls, and even most of them are no longer free. The FCC ruling only addresses real VOIP where you actually have a phone number and do not need your computer to make the call, and can receive calls to the phone number. All of those charge for service.

Having said those things, I am pissed at this ruling because I ported my phone number of 20 years from Verizon to a small VOIP, which will probably be forced out of business due to the expense of buying 911 connectivity. As far as I know, no law exists to provide that the VOIP must port my phone number to somewhere else. So I may lose my phone number due to short-sighted bureaucrats my tax dollars pay for.

Wait till a VOIPer dies because emergency services cannot pinpont them. Bet their family will be the first to sue the VOIP provider, State PUC and FCC.

The problem I have with VOIP is their disregard for paying their dues/taxes for trafficing voice across the PSTN. Sorry, but they are not an "information company".

If a call goes VOIP to VOIP, no taxes, no problem. But when a VOIP call terminates to Grandma on the PSTN (Not VOIP), then the VOIP provider should have to pay the telco the call is terminating on an access fee. It happens all the time. The money collected is typically pooled and divided amongst small Independent telcos serving the very rural areas of the country. There are 100+ year telcos in Montana that upkeep several thousand square miles of network to give service to a couple hunred ranchers. If they had to pass the cost of the upkeep onto the rancher, they would be charged hundreds of dollars for local dialtone. Cell companies do not put towers out there as there is not enough traffic to cover the overbuild cost of a tower.

It was decided long ago that everyone has a right to a phone at a fair price. So the rancher pays about $20 for a phone and the telco recoups the upkeep cost from the Universal Service fund and Carrier Access Fees. Check a typical LD bill and you will see a USF Fee or "Universal Service"

If a large portion of Urban callers go VOIP and VOIP providers are not regulated as a telco is, then there will be a huge dent in Universal Service. Yet another great industry will close in this wonderful country.

FYI, there are about 1200 Rural telcos in the country serving about 3.2 million people. 60% of their revuenues come from access fees and Universal Service.

VOIP will not hurt the remaining Baby Bells because they are all getting into the game and they do not rely on access fees as they have millions of customers. The Rural Telcos, where their handfull of customers are far less likely to adopt such a technology will be the ones that lose out.

Cingular burned me to the tune of $1000 USD, and Bellsouth, their "mama", is no better. The phone companies, cell or land-based, are little better than the Mafia and have the scruples of Tony Soprano. I am 100% on the side of the VoIP providers and hope that they are not hindered by any FCC rulings. I agree that 911 service should be provided, but everybody should keep in mind that the traditional phone companies have a LOT of influence in Washington with their lobbyists.

Now as to my beef with Cingular? They charge .39 a minute just to check voice mail. They hit you with .39 a minute for each minute over your allotted time. Their customer service is rude, arrogant, and ignorant of their own policies and billing. Their cell phone service is spotty in many areas and you will get "NO SERVICE" just when you need it most. The FCC should be going after the cell companies for people dying due to lack of phone communication with emergency services, rather than VoIP.

My VoIP provider already provides 911 service. I think this is an old issue that the FCC is taking up due to the fact BellSouth is feeling the HEAT. Good, BellSouth, you know what? BellSouth deserves to go out of business, it is the most arrogant company on the face of this earth.

Burned:

Cellular sucks. Service is crap, calls are dropped, we talk through static all the time. It is amazing how much money is paid on monthly cell bills in the name of convenience. They do charge for everything.

We have traded quality for price in many industries. Cellular happens to be the one for telephones.

Our cell phones disclose where we are so what difference would it make if VOIP is also tagged with a location? Only makes a difference if we do not carry cell phones.

Is this incorrect?

The recurring question here is how would the system know how to route a 911 call amde from a VOIP phone? After all, one could be traveling with their VOIP adapter or even use WiFi - I often take my adapter with me overseas - so how would the system know this?

every time your VOIP adapter connects it has to route the call through your provider. Your provider can do a traceroute on this connection and determine the DSL/cable/internet provider server that provides you with Internet connectivity. This would allow them to at least ballpark your vicinity and route your call to an appropriate local 911 center, at least at the state level and probably county. You would also probably be asked to register your home and/or primary usage lcoations, and if the local server matched then it would know you were at one of these lcoations.

No spying or anything difficult here, and nothing the VOIP service can't already figure out. The problem is routing your call to the local 911 center as there's no way to make that happen right now. Think about it - how would you call 911 in another town? What's their number - 911?? So each 911 center would need an inward direct-dial 10-digit number and the phone company would have to make this available to the VOIP companies along with the territiory for the center. Not rocket science, but the mechansm hasn't existed until now.

switchboard,

Thanks for putting us all into perspective on the local telcos. We folks in the city seem to not understand how they survive. I am a BIG fan of VoIP due to the simple fact I HATE the Big phone companies. The other posters were right stating these guys are arrogant and rude and I still consider most of them a monopoly. I am proud NOT to be a customer of them any longer. Before I was paying BellSouth around $75/mo. for the same service i am getting now with VoIP for $24/mo. That being said, the VoIP customers should not mind the additional USF on their bill.