Wouldn't switch Yet

[JohnnyTruant]

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news0...nage_fire.html

It maybe old news, but basically the person was put on hold when he called 911, and by the time the firefighters got to the scene, his house was gone.

One of the highlights here:

As it now stands, VoIP 911 calls can be unreliable.

[ManyHats]

From the article:

Last year the FCC gave VoIP providers an ultimatum to institute by September 2005 the same kind of 911 access provided to people using landlines or cell phones.

So has it happened? Have the VoIP providers given their customers that access? The article said that is was supposed to happen by last September, so here we are almost a year later....

[Delaney]

Surely that problem had to be corrected by now. Otherwise, they've known about the problem but not taken steps to do anything about it? Isn't that just screaming "somebody sue me"? I don't think they'd leave themselves open like that for very long after realizing there is a problem.

[HSMom]

Apparently not by all VoIP providers. This comes from Verizon VoiceWing's FAQs, at http://www22.verizon.com/ForYourhome/voip/FAQ.aspx:

VoiceWing does not support traditional 911 or E911 access to emergency services. The limited emergency response service (“Limited Emergency Response Service”) differs in a number of important ways from traditional emergency response services. YOU MUST MAINTAIN AN ALTERNATE MEANS OF REQUESTING EMERGENCY SERVICES. An accurate Service Address is required to route your calls to the closest emergency call center in the event that you dial 9-1-1.

Pretty scary!