Vonage sold over not clearly informing customers re 911 service lacking
On 03/23/05, "Sam Hayes Merritt, III" <sam@themerritts.org> wrote:
Subject: Re: Vonage sold over not clearly informing customers re 911 service lacking http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/internet/03/23/internet.phones.911.ap/index.htm...
That's "sued," not "sold." And it's a silly case, 'cause Vonage goes to great lengths to remind new subscribers to configure the service with the real, physical location of their phone. Or at least, they bugged me a lot when I signed up late last year. -- J.D. Falk uncertainty is only a virtue <jdfalk@cybernothing.org> when you don't know the answer yet
-----Original Message----- From: owner-nanog@merit.edu [mailto:owner-nanog@merit.edu] On Behalf Of J.D. Falk Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2005 1:37 AM
On 03/23/05, "Sam Hayes Merritt, III" <sam@themerritts.org> wrote:
Subject: Re: Vonage sold over not clearly informing customers re 911 service lacking
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/internet/03/23/internet.phones.911.ap/index.htm l
That's "sued," not "sold."
And it's a silly case, 'cause Vonage goes to great lengths to remind new subscribers to configure the service with the real, physical location of their phone. Or at least, they bugged me a lot when I signed up late last year.
Or it's not so silly. The 911 service Vonage prodded you to configure is not quite the same as calling 911 from a landline (see below). So even though you told Vonage where you are and they send your call to the right building you still need to be transferred to the 9-11 call center and you still need to tell them where you are.
Your Call Will Go To A General Access Line at the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP). This is different from the 911 Emergency Response Center where traditional 911 calls go. * This means your call goes to a different phone number than traditional 911 calls. Also, you will need to state the nature of your emergency promptly and clearly, including your location and telephone number, as Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) personnel will NOT have this information on hand. ----- Oren Levin, Senior Developer olevin@audible.com, 973.837.2811 "Audible.com ranks among the Web's best services." CNet.com, July 2004
At 01:38 PM 3/24/2005, Oren Levin wrote:
-----Original Message----- From: owner-nanog@merit.edu [mailto:owner-nanog@merit.edu] On Behalf Of J.D. Falk Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2005 1:37 AM
On 03/23/05, "Sam Hayes Merritt, III" <sam@themerritts.org> wrote:
Subject: Re: Vonage sold over not clearly informing customers re 911 service lacking
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/internet/03/23/internet.phones.911.ap/index.htm l
That's "sued," not "sold."
And it's a silly case, 'cause Vonage goes to great lengths to remind new subscribers to configure the service with the real, physical location of their phone. Or at least, they bugged me a lot when I signed up late last year.
Or it's not so silly. The 911 service Vonage prodded you to configure is not quite the same as calling 911 from a landline (see below). So even though you told Vonage where you are and they send your call to the right building you still need to be transferred to the 9-11 call center and you still need to tell them where you are.
I'm not sure why Vonage couldn't offer a service to have 911 ring to a number you specify. In our town, the alarm companies and anyone on a cell phone who wants to reach the proper police department knows to call the "non-emergency" number at the dispatch center. Though the call doesn't come in over the official 911 circuit, our dispatchers do not treat that line as less important. Why not just let us map 911 to that number? As you note, they offer to map it to some other location, which isn't in the same place. My impression is you get a middleman like you would with OnStar or similar.
participants (4)
-
Daniel Senie -
J.D. Falk -
Oren Levin -
Sam Hayes Merritt, III