Re: More on Vonage service disruptions...
..and apparently this is happening more and more. There was actually a story in USA Today a couple of days ago where a family tried calling 911 on their VoIP service during a burglary only to be told by a recorded message that they must "dial 911 from another phone"... http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-02-28-voip-usat_x.htm This story accurately highlights some of the issues. - ferg -- Adi Linden <adil@adis.on.ca> wrote: Who would in their right mind rely on MSN Messenger for 911 access? Today residential VoIP service offered by Vonage or like companies is nothing more or less than your instant messenging gizmo. Perhaps it is more useful but by no means more reliable. Adi -- "Fergie", a.k.a. Paul Ferguson Engineering Architecture for the Internet fergdawg@netzero.net or fergdawg@sbcglobal.net
There was actually a story in USA Today a couple of days ago where a family tried calling 911 on their VoIP service during a burglary only to be told by a recorded message that they must "dial 911 from another phone"...
I was surprised to see on Packet8's web site that they now offer E911 in a lot of places. You have to have a local phone number and pay an extra $1.50/mo. They remind you that if your power goes out, your phone still won't work, but if you can call 911, it'll be a real 911 call. This still has little to do with port blocking, but a lot to do with the whole question of what level of service people are paying for vs. what level they think they are paying for. Regards, John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies", Information Superhighwayman wanna-be, http://www.johnlevine.com, Mayor "I dropped the toothpaste", said Tom, crestfallenly.
Perhaps it varies by state, but I thought part of the E-911 service regulations was that if you were offering (charging) for it, you had to offer it as "lifeline" service which meant it had to survive power outage. *shrug* I guess the original regs weren't written with these things in mind! Scott -----Original Message----- From: owner-nanog@merit.edu [mailto:owner-nanog@merit.edu] On Behalf Of John Levine Sent: Thursday, March 03, 2005 9:17 PM To: nanog@nanog.org Cc: fergdawg@netzero.net Subject: Re: More on Vonage service disruptions...
There was actually a story in USA Today a couple of days ago where a family tried calling 911 on their VoIP service during a burglary only to be told by a recorded message that they must "dial 911 from another phone"...
I was surprised to see on Packet8's web site that they now offer E911 in a lot of places. You have to have a local phone number and pay an extra $1.50/mo. They remind you that if your power goes out, your phone still won't work, but if you can call 911, it'll be a real 911 call. This still has little to do with port blocking, but a lot to do with the whole question of what level of service people are paying for vs. what level they think they are paying for. Regards, John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies", Information Superhighwayman wanna-be, http://www.johnlevine.com, Mayor "I dropped the toothpaste", said Tom, crestfallenly.
This does bring up a hardware design question...I'm wondering how difficult of an engineering/marketing problem it would be to design VoIP adapters with built-in backup batteries. How does the power consumption profile of a VoIP adapter compare to, say, a cellphone? What would this add to the cost of the device, and how long could the battery last? -C On Mar 3, 2005, at 10:25 PM, Scott Morris wrote:
Perhaps it varies by state, but I thought part of the E-911 service regulations was that if you were offering (charging) for it, you had to offer it as "lifeline" service which meant it had to survive power outage. *shrug*
I guess the original regs weren't written with these things in mind!
Scott
-----Original Message----- From: owner-nanog@merit.edu [mailto:owner-nanog@merit.edu] On Behalf Of John Levine Sent: Thursday, March 03, 2005 9:17 PM To: nanog@nanog.org Cc: fergdawg@netzero.net Subject: Re: More on Vonage service disruptions...
There was actually a story in USA Today a couple of days ago where a family tried calling 911 on their VoIP service during a burglary only to be told by a recorded message that they must "dial 911 from another phone"...
I was surprised to see on Packet8's web site that they now offer E911 in a lot of places. You have to have a local phone number and pay an extra $1.50/mo. They remind you that if your power goes out, your phone still won't work, but if you can call 911, it'll be a real 911 call.
This still has little to do with port blocking, but a lot to do with the whole question of what level of service people are paying for vs. what level they think they are paying for.
Regards, John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies", Information Superhighwayman wanna-be, http://www.johnlevine.com, Mayor "I dropped the toothpaste", said Tom, crestfallenly.
Replying to myself... Yes, I am aware that a battery backup in the VoIP adapter doesn't do you much good if you don't have power on the cable/DSL modem and any intermediate gear - or your wireless phone, for that matter... That said, this could be a feature that customers could be looking for as IP connectivity becomes more of a utility-like service. -C On Mar 4, 2005, at 12:45 PM, Christopher Woodfield wrote:
This does bring up a hardware design question...I'm wondering how difficult of an engineering/marketing problem it would be to design VoIP adapters with built-in backup batteries. How does the power consumption profile of a VoIP adapter compare to, say, a cellphone? What would this add to the cost of the device, and how long could the battery last?
-C
On Mar 3, 2005, at 10:25 PM, Scott Morris wrote:
Perhaps it varies by state, but I thought part of the E-911 service regulations was that if you were offering (charging) for it, you had to offer it as "lifeline" service which meant it had to survive power outage. *shrug*
I guess the original regs weren't written with these things in mind!
Scott
-----Original Message----- From: owner-nanog@merit.edu [mailto:owner-nanog@merit.edu] On Behalf Of John Levine Sent: Thursday, March 03, 2005 9:17 PM To: nanog@nanog.org Cc: fergdawg@netzero.net Subject: Re: More on Vonage service disruptions...
There was actually a story in USA Today a couple of days ago where a family tried calling 911 on their VoIP service during a burglary only to be told by a recorded message that they must "dial 911 from another phone"...
I was surprised to see on Packet8's web site that they now offer E911 in a lot of places. You have to have a local phone number and pay an extra $1.50/mo. They remind you that if your power goes out, your phone still won't work, but if you can call 911, it'll be a real 911 call.
This still has little to do with port blocking, but a lot to do with the whole question of what level of service people are paying for vs. what level they think they are paying for.
Regards, John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies", Information Superhighwayman wanna-be, http://www.johnlevine.com, Mayor "I dropped the toothpaste", said Tom, crestfallenly.
On Fri, 4 Mar 2005 12:59:52 -0500, Christopher Woodfield wrote:
Yes, I am aware that a battery backup in the VoIP adapter doesn't do you much good if you don't have power on the cable/DSL modem and any intermediate gear - or your wireless phone, for that matter...
That said, this could be a feature that customers could be looking for as IP connectivity becomes more of a utility-like service.
One just puts the whole system (dsl modem, router, voip adapter) on a UPS. I do it; it works. Jeffrey Race -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.300 / Virus Database: 266.5.7 - Release Date: 3/1/2005
This does bring up a hardware design question...I'm wondering how difficult of an engineering/marketing problem it would be to design VoIP adapters with built-in backup batteries. How does the power consumption profile of a VoIP adapter compare to, say, a cellphone? What would this add to the cost of the device, and how long could the battery last?
Funny you should ask. POTS phones used to contain their own batteries, but in the mid-1890s they switched to the current system that powers the phone from the central office because maintaining the batteries was a logistical nightmare. I realize that things have advanced a little in the past century, but my UPS still needs new batteries every year. Since VoIP adapters have to power POTS phones, their power needs are going to be those of POTS phones rather than cell phones, and that means the battery has to provide enough power to make the phone ring. It's a fairly important part of the cableco system that their adapter with the batteries is on the outside of the house so they can send guys around to replace the batteries without the subscribers' help. I don't see how it'd ever be practical to get users of parasitic VoIP to maintain their batteries since they'd only notice that the batteries had failed when the power was out. Regards, John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies", Information Superhighwayman wanna-be, http://iecc.com/johnl, Mayor "I dropped the toothpaste", said Tom, crestfallenly.
Carry my VoIP traffic or else!! http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/70081/us-slaps-fine-on-company-blocking-voip.htm... -- Robert Blayzor, BOFH INOC, LLC rblayzor\@(inoc.net|gmail.com) PGP: http://www.inoc.net/~dev/ Key fingerprint = 1E02 DABE F989 BC03 3DF5 0E93 8D02 9D0B CB1A A7B0 Hey! It compiles! Ship it!
On Fri, 4 Mar 2005, Christopher Woodfield wrote:
This does bring up a hardware design question...I'm wondering how difficult of an engineering/marketing problem it would be to design VoIP adapters with built-in backup batteries. How does the power consumption profile of a VoIP adapter compare to, say, a cellphone? What would this add to the cost of the device, and how long could the battery last?
I Like I suspect many people and any business I've ever encountered have an ups for my home router, switches, wireless accesspoints, and voip handset... if you have only a cordless phone you have approximately the same problem.
-C
On Mar 3, 2005, at 10:25 PM, Scott Morris wrote:
Perhaps it varies by state, but I thought part of the E-911 service regulations was that if you were offering (charging) for it, you had to offer it as "lifeline" service which meant it had to survive power outage. *shrug*
I guess the original regs weren't written with these things in mind!
Scott
-----Original Message----- From: owner-nanog@merit.edu [mailto:owner-nanog@merit.edu] On Behalf Of John Levine Sent: Thursday, March 03, 2005 9:17 PM To: nanog@nanog.org Cc: fergdawg@netzero.net Subject: Re: More on Vonage service disruptions...
There was actually a story in USA Today a couple of days ago where a family tried calling 911 on their VoIP service during a burglary only to be told by a recorded message that they must "dial 911 from another phone"...
I was surprised to see on Packet8's web site that they now offer E911 in a lot of places. You have to have a local phone number and pay an extra $1.50/mo. They remind you that if your power goes out, your phone still won't work, but if you can call 911, it'll be a real 911 call.
This still has little to do with port blocking, but a lot to do with the whole question of what level of service people are paying for vs. what level they think they are paying for.
Regards, John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies", Information Superhighwayman wanna-be, http://www.johnlevine.com, Mayor "I dropped the toothpaste", said Tom, crestfallenly.
-- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joel Jaeggli Unix Consulting joelja@darkwing.uoregon.edu GPG Key Fingerprint: 5C6E 0104 BAF0 40B0 5BD3 C38B F000 35AB B67F 56B2
participants (8)
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Christopher Woodfield -
Fergie (Paul Ferguson) -
Jeffrey Race -
Joel Jaeggli -
John Levine -
John R Levine
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Robert Blayzor -
Scott Morris