FCC Wants 911 On Web Phones Within 4 Months

[question everything]

FCC Wants 911 On Web Phones Within 4 Months

By AMY SCHATZ and SHAWN YOUNG
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
May 20, 2005; Page A2

Internet telephone companies won't be allowed to operate unless they offer direct access to the 911 emergency-call system, federal regulators said.

In an abrupt change from its hands-off stance toward the emerging phone service, the Federal Communications Commission voted 4-0 yesterday to require Internet phone companies to provide 911 access within the next four months.

The agency's action came in response to a series of high-profile incidents in which callers couldn't reach emergency dispatchers. "We need to take whatever actions are necessary to swiftly enforce these requirements to ensure that no lives are lost due to lack of access to 911," said Kevin Martin, who became FCC chairman March 18 and has made 911 access his top priority.

(snip)

Write to Amy Schatz at [email protected] and Shawn Young at [email protected]

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111651479538138125,00.html

[Triana]

1. my voip service provides 911 svc...

...so at least one of the service providers already provides it.

However, I doubt the FCC gives a rat's ass about providing 911 svc to voip customers.

What it probably does care about is getting enough control over voip services that it can find ways to can charge for it and tax it, particularly long distance. Bell, et al - and other big Repub contributors, no doubt want their hands in the voip pot. They have $$$ signs in their eyes and they're frothing at the mouth to get their hands on whatever profit can be made from voip - at consumer expense, of course.

And, once they start meddling with it, service levels and quality will go into the shitter.

Hmph. Pardon my cynicism, but...