State forces Vonage to provide 911 service
Note: Well this is good to hear, I think all voip providers should have 911 support just like the carriers.
People who get their phone service through the internet using Vonage will now get better 911 service. Vonage is the nation’s largest Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone service. The State of Florida announced a deal on Thursday that forced the company to make sure customers can directly dial emergency services.
Vonage must now automatically sign up customers for 911 services when they give a physical address. It also has to provide all needed information that will better help local emergency agencies locate customers in need. Plus, the company has to better describe the differences between it and standard phone companies.
Florida and five other states began investigating Vonage in May 2005 after they received consumer complaints about the company’s emergency dialing procedures. Those were different than traditional 911 procedures because VoIP service uses the internet, rather than standard telephone lines, to send and receive calls.
Thursday’s agreement addresses the company’s alleged failure to properly inform customers about the steps that had to be taken to activate the 911 feature. Prior to that, consumers who had not activated the service but attempted to dial 911 during an emergency would receive a recorded message informing them that their 911 service had not been activated.
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Posted to Vonage