The FCC has backed away from a requirement that Voice over IP providers will be required to switch off customers who have not acknowledged warnings from their providers as to the limitations of VoIP and 911/E-911. The Associated Press article is here. Evidently VoIP providers whose customer response rate is below 90 percent have until the end of October to get their acknowledgment numbers up.
This is a very surprising move, but Im glad to see the FCC take this step. The original requirements laid down looked to be very onerous. The cynic in me compared the requirement placed on VoIP providers to the lenience the wireless carriers have enjoyed with their own 911 requirements and the incumbents enjoyed for a long time with local number portability. That cynical guy thought that perhaps if one had the lobbying muscle of the RBOCs and wireless carriers your deadlines could be taken as mere suggestions, being moved again, again and again. Perhaps the performance of voice over Internet services when traditional land line and wireless phones failed in the wake of the London Underground and bus bombing and Hurricane Katrina made the FCC realize the mistake in mandating disconnection of customers. From the AP article:
“To have a system where you risk cutting customers off in such a short time frame? It’s unintended consequences,” Sen. John Sununu of New Hampshire said in a speech last week at VON, a conference that revolves around Internet phone technology, which is also known as VoIP or Voice-over-Internet-Protocol.
“Cutting someone off from their voice service carries enormous risks,” Sununu said.
Amen, Senator. Perhaps I should check my cynicism a bit. At least for today. Maybe.
