Your VoIP Line May Be Terminated Next Week

To call the service 9-1-1 it should have to meet certain federal standards. When VOIP operators stop calling it 9-1-1 there won't be any confusion from the idiots who ignored the 50 zillion disclaimers VOIP operators have when you sign up.

Even if you did this the laywers would say...well you have the number "9" "1" "1" on the dial program you have...so we are going to blame you!

Sue Sue Sue!!

they should counter sue this woman into the ground as an example for the financial harm she caused the company. Sue the laywer as well for defimation. sure she went through hell and lost her kid...but this would cause people to stop and think before they act.

I don't know the facts but if, as it sounds, Vonage proved the call went through (twice), sue the lawyer. Leave the woman alone. The lawyer is the enabler.

Yes, if true it sounds like it may be an instance of malicious litigation, a very serious charge.

Actually, that's wrong. An attorney is supposed to do whatever the will of their client(s) is/are -- not what they personally believe. The only truth is the fact that he could have refused to represent her -- but then again, how many attorneys do you know that are going to turn down money.

No, attorneys are required by ethical standards to refuse to pursue cases which totally lack merit.

Attorneys should perform a basic evaluation of the facts prior to filing suit. In situations where there isn't time prior to filing (e.g., the statute of limitations is about to run out) then they are under a duty to evaluate their case as soon as possible.

So, attorneys who don't turn down bad cases are risking ethics violations.

The real problem here is that America does not follow the rule on attorney's fees that the rest of the world does. Elsewhere, the LOSER PAYS both sides' reasonable attorneys' fees. That deters most worthless cases from being filed.

Here, the attorney cranks up the word processor, pays a negligible filing fee, demands millions, takes a third of whatever he gets, and has virtually no risk that he'll have to chip in to pay the defendant's costs if the case is worthless. THAT is the problem.

calvoiper

It's not quite that simple. But hey, I'd hate to rain on everybody's attorney bashing parade.

If you're saying the attorney does a little bit more, I did forget to add the phrase "hires a whore of an 'expert' who renders an opinion totally divorced from scientific fact" from the list of attorney activities.

If you're saying that American rule on attorney's fees isn't the problem, I'd like to hear more.

calvoiper

No matter what I say, it really wouldn't matter to people like you.

Vonage sent the call to an unattended answering machine in the building where the 911 center happened to be located. The office where the answering machine was located had nothing to do with the operation of the 911 center! Translation; the lady did register or set up the Vonage 911 service. Vonage sent the call to the wrong number.

So in their effort to protect me from my own failing, big brother will completely disconnect me and keep me from direct dialing help to keep me from perhaps dialing 911 and not getting what I’ve been warned I wouldn’t get. Their warning is sent in writing to inform the people that failed to read the original warning when they signed up. And my taxes just went up.

Funny, but that's about the size of it.

Isn’t it great that the Bush administration treats us like children unable to make our own decisions. Is this about technology or powerful ILECs able to make generous contributions? Is Bush a Republican or Fascist?

What does Bush or republicans have anything to do with it?

It's Bush's/the Republican's FCC. They call themselves conservatives, but they act like Fascists. That was the point made.

typicall fcc. force my voip provider to turn off my phone so i can't call anyone when my house is burning down.

does the cell phone industry have the same rule?

WTF? (or WTF should i expect from the fcc?!!! grrr!)

I have Oceanic Time Warner and I never got an email, what the hell is Time Warner thinking?

TWC has 911 service on their phones. they're a CLEC.

Well if a parent is responsible right before their kid was born. They would have taken several first aid and cpr classes, have a list of the direct emergency numbers in their area stuck to their phone. So if such an event occurs and they are unable to reach an emergency number, they can handle the problem themselves, instead of wasting a riduculous amount of time for a paramedic to save a choking kid or treat a severe injury. An ambulance cannot get your kid to a hospital any faster than you can get there yourself, especially if you live in an area with a volunteer service.

Wrong on the volunteer ambulance service. In my town the ambulance response is under 3 minutes on average. The hospital is almost 20 miles away. The ambulance can get anyone there much faster than a fellow citizen can plus they can render paramedic care on the scene and in transit..something a fellow citizen cannot do in transporting themselves. Just because it is a volunteer service does not mean quality goes down.

Does anyone have a copy of the letter Vonage sent out warning customers they will be disconnected? I didn't see it in the links above.

The Vonage letter:

Dear Valued Vonage Customer,

We have sent numerous notifications requiring that you view a notice on our 911 Dialing. Pursuant to an Order from the Federal Communications Commission, if you do not acknowledge this notice, we will be required to restrict your outbound calling for your Vonage service. To view and acknowledge our 911 Dialing notice, please click here.

Even if you have already activated 911, due to a recently announced FCC 911 ruling we are required to ensure that you acknowledge your understanding of these differences. It is mandatory that you act now so that we may continue to provide you with Vonage service.

Please note, if you have multiple Vonage accounts you must acknowledge that you have read and understand the 911 Dialing notice for each account separately.

To determine which account this is in reference to we have included your account information below:

But how do you acknowledge? I've never received an email, and I've even logged onto my Dashboard but I do not see anything there relating to this.

The only think I received was a letter in the mail stating that you can dial 933 to verify if you have e911 in your area yet.

I got two letters in the mail about this never email,humm. I signed up for the 911 the day i got vonage running over a year now. Next day i got a email saying both lines are ready to go. I have never had to use 911 so i cant comment on that.

Funny thing about this is when i went with vonage, and told bellsouth where to stick it with there over price services, i did hook up my phone outside to the line 3 weeks ago and i have 911 access but thats it.

Question: Doesnt the Fcc say that every POTS phone active or not has to have access to 911? I cant find it why am asking.

"Question: Doesnt the Fcc say that every POTS phone active or not has to have access to 911? I cant find it why am asking."

Nothing about landlines from what I've seen. VZ in Marion, OH has 911 service on all their lines active or not.

SBC doesn't. But they're required to have active 911 service for 14 days after they shut your phone off for what ever reason---requested or non-payment. After the 14days Ohio doesn't care.

Voicepulse send out the same letter, and then about a week later stated that they will be sending out phone stickers, like the 10-10-*** cheep looking stickers that say that this phone cannot dial 911, dial this number instead.
I still have not seen the sticker yet,

BTW, I plan on writing in 912 since I am a member of the Springfield Stonecutters!

This is too funny Same people here crying about 911 not working on VOIP are the same ones saying people are dumb for having POTS in the DSL forum. Look before you leap.;)

VoIP is not an all or nothing type of deal. I save so much money a month on long distance that I can easily afford a metered-rate POTS line for emergencies. My total bill, after taxes, is about $42/mo - even though we probably use several HOURS of long distance a day.

Everytime someone dials an outside call, have a message saying "You must log into your dashboard and acknowledge our 911 disclaimer" before they connect their call. That would get nice and annoying fast and seems like it would get the job done.

I see dumb people and they like to sue others for their misfortune.
I see dumb people and they create havoc and mayhem because they have small brains that don't understand what a disclaimer is.
I see dumb people who think justice can be found on the dollar bill and that's enough to ease their pain
And it's Ok to point fingers and say "your fault, your fault"
Eventho the calls DID go through
Eventho it would have made sense to have a back-up phone, Eventho a cheap pay-as-you-go cell phone with no minutes will still call 911
Viable options for you, for your peace of mind, for your baby were never taken.
So sure it's still Ok to point fingers and say "your fault, your fault"

Too true.

Good point. And heck a couple weeks ago compusa was PAYING YOU $10 to take a prepaid cell phone off thier hands ($40 phone with $50 rebates). So thats an even better deal than "cheap" heheheeheh. Man I love getting paid money to take merchandise off store's hands.

Someone correct me if I am wrong, cause its this way where I live. I live in a rural area w/o broadband so this isnt an issue with me, but here's my take.

If my phone line(POTS) is disconnected for whatever reason, I can still dial 911 and get through w/o any problems. I assume most people that have VoIP service had a POTS line at one time, and can just hook up a handset to use for 911 services.

Once upon a time, when 911 was not available to every city in the U.S., even through POTS, we were told to have a list of emergency numbers handy near the phone.

I remember the local sheriff's deputies coming in to our elementary school and handing out bright fluorescent stickers with telephone numbers to the local fire, police, emergency medical services, poison control, etc., that we could stick to our phones (rotary, back in the old days, touch tone was way too new fangled and expensive for us common folk).

We were also told that, if we remember nothing else, or were just too damn (of course they would never use such language in elementary school, I'm just speaking in hyperbole to make a point) lazy to create/obatin a list of emergency numbers, to dial 0 to get the operator, who could then patch a caller through to an emergency service.

What happens when you dial 0 using a VOIP service? Do you get an operator that can patch you though to an emergency service?

I'm using a metered POTS line (DSL, emergencies only) and also have a cell phone, so I haven't been in a rush to go the VOIP route as my cell plan, like y'alls, includes long distance.

In fact, I remember all kinds of emergency procedures being taught in elementary school. Is this no longer part of the school curiculum anymore? Don't mean to digress too much. Maybe that question is better posed in another Topic/Thread.

How do I test if 911 works without the police showing up at my house?

What I thought was funny about real 911 was when I was in LA, california. I called twice in a couple days when I was visiting there, once to report some moron who blew a tire and stopped in middle lane. Second to report a brush fire next to highway that had no firetrucks there yet.

BOTH FRIGGING TIMES that I called I was on hold for 15 mins. Differant days, differant times. I had to sit and listen through messages about not calling 911 to get driving directions etc, and that someone would be with me soon. FIFTEEN FREAKING MINUTES!

Stop calling 911 for fricken directions.

The only reason why were seeing pressure put on VOIP providers is that phone companies like SBC have realized that they are losing money and will lose alot more when cell phones make the VOIP connection. (Hint: the big phone companies have lobbyists and pay large campaign contributions.)

I've had Vonage for over a year now. The service itself has worked quite well. The one thorn in my side is I keep getting reminders via email and snail-mail about once a month regarding 911. I setup my 911 profile the day I got my service. I even verified it at least twice since then yet I keep getting the damned reminders.

I may just drop the service entirely. I rarely use that phone anyhow as I do most of my talking via my mobile phone!