areese
join:2003-01-09
Sherrills Ford, NC | Be Wary - Vonage 911 may not workHere's a copy of the latest email with my ongoing service issues with Vonage.
Dear Tim,
I appreciate your timely responses and willingness to help. Unfortunately, you've apparently been misinformed. While I appreciate and understand Vonage's advise not to test 911 dialing, in light of the earlier troubles, I thought it prudent to give it try. Guess what? It still doesn't work. I'm still just getting a fast busy signal.
I received your note re: credit and under normal circumstances, I'd agree that credit for 911 isn't suitable. But considering this has gone on for over a month now without resolution, in fact, usually nary an email, it seems like something should be done. Additionally, the LNP experience was painful, taking over 2.5 months to complete, well past the 15-20 business days promised, and when it was finally completed, my voicemail didn't get activated until I made numerous phone calls to tech support.
As I mentioned before, I have been very pleased with the technology aspects of Vonage - great features, a reasonable price, excellent sound quality. Unfortunately, nearly every personal contact has had the appearance of a company who isn't concerned with quality customer service.
Please escalate my 911 issue as necessary to get it resolved.
Thank you.
---------------------------------------------------
At 03:44 PM 10/25/2003 +0000, you wrote:
Dear ______
I have been informed that your 911 issue has been resolved. I apologize
for the extended delay in getting this issue resolved. I will review
your account and notify you with regard to the credit you requested due
to this matter.
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Thank you for contacting Customer Care.
Regards
Tim H-R |
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| That is a very interesting set of circumstances. I am in the middle of a similar situation. In the last 2 weeks I have had two situations that I wanted to use the 911 feature. I did not realize that 911 was not working correctly on our line. The 911 service had been enabled for almost three months, but at no time did I attempt to test it (per Vonage's request).
They have been "working" to resolve the issue for almost 10 days. Originally, I received a busy signal when I attempted to call 911. It now calls the voicemail of a Met-Life Auto and Home sales person. This number called me back one time, and I now know the number that they are attempting to call. I have contacted the director of 911 services for my local county, and have determine that the number that Vonage is attempting to call is incorrect by one digit. Actually, it is incorrect by one digit, but it is still not calling the correct number. If they correct the one digit error they will get a local Sheriff dept, but this is not the correct number that they should call.
I have given them all of this information, and feel that there is NO EXCUSE for not fixing the issue within a very short amount of time.
I have spoken with the folks that would end up receiving my calls if the 911 calls were placed correctly, and they appear to be very concerned regarding how it is being used/advertised. If you call 911 on Vonage, and hang up/cant talk then their hands are tied. The only course of action that they have is to call you back, and even then they have no idea what address you are at.
My suggestion is that you make sure you have a complete understanding of the limitations of Vonage 911, and that you test it regularly. Please note that the 911 operators that I have talked to have very specific procedures that they follow, and are not at all concerned if you make a test call. You just need to make sure to let them know that you have new phone service and are making a test call. |
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x10guy
join:2003-10-24
Torrance, CA | 911 is the Primary issue why I chose Packet8 and kept a stripped down landline in my house. It is STILL Cheaper that Vonage.
What happens in case of a family emergency and your internet connection decided to act up? |
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 blohner
join:2002-06-26
Cortlandt Manor, NY
 ·Optimum Online
 ·Verizon FiOS
 ·Google Voice
·ooma
·Vonage
| reply to areese
To chime in here (again):
My 911 is routed to the NY State Police but the wrong Substation. Instead of the one in Cortlandt it is routed to the one in Hawthorne (about 15 miles south)...
I have this issue open with Vonage for about 2 month now with no resolution.
Maybe it is time to abandon the claim to offer any kind of 911 service?
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I am addicted to speed --- OOL speed that is ---
~Help find a cure for cancer~Proud Member Team Discovery |
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| reply to x10guy
said by x10guy:
911 is the Primary issue why I chose Packet8 and kept a stripped down landline in my house. It is STILL Cheaper that Vonage.
What happens in case of a family emergency and your internet connection decided to act up?
I guess in that situation you would fall back to your landline, or use a cell phone. The point of my post, and I assume areese  's, is to point out the flaws of the implementation. As well, the concern is that even when the internet connection is up it does not work as advertised (in my case).
[text was edited by author 2003-10-27 21:07:57] |
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| reply to WeKnSmith
said by WeKnSmith:
If you call 911 on Vonage, and hang up/cant talk then their hands are tied. The only course of action that they have is to call you back, and even then they have no idea what address you are at.
Most savvy E9-1-1 operators would run a "reverse 9-1-1" lookup from the caller ID in that case, and although it requires an extra step would then likely know the address from which you called... especially if your number had previously been a "wired" phone that was transferred to Vonage. I'm not so sure if it was a new Vonage "virtual" number... hopefully as part of their "pseudo 9-1-1" activation process, Vonage provide the address info to update the 9-1-1 database maintained by Intrado, etc.
For what it's worth I tested 9-1-1 on one of my lines and the call went exactly where it was supposed to... the folks at the 9-1-1 center were very intrigued by the whole thing.
Dan
[text was edited by author 2003-10-27 22:08:43] |
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bbrookfieldPremium
join:2003-09-24
Indian Rocks Beach, FL | reply to areese
I just tried my 911 and it went to the emergency center as expected. Vonage did set my 911 up correctly. |
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x10guy
join:2003-10-24
Torrance, CA | Even if Vonage of other Voip companies set up the 911 up correctly, you are still at the mercy of your internet connection.
Voip is definitely a cool technology and saves a bunch of $$ for normal phone stuff but in an emergency I'll still take old copper wire over voip. |
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| reply to Good Ol Dan
said by Good Ol Dan:
Most savvy E9-1-1 operators would run a "reverse 9-1-1" lookup from the caller ID in that case, and although it requires an extra step would then likely know the address from which you called...
Thanks for the suggestion Dan, the 911 operator did a reverse 911 lookup, and my Vonage line is not listed in the database.
said by Anonymous Users:
YOU GUYS ARE 911 LOSERS...
Whatever...
[text was edited by author 2003-10-28 05:13:14]
[text was edited by author 2003-10-28 05:13:54] |
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| said by WeKnSmith:
Thanks for the suggestion Dan, the 911 operator did a reverse 911 lookup, and my Vonage line is not listed in the database.
Hmmm... is your number a transfer to Vonage, or a "new" Vonage-provided number?
D. |
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 tunes
join:2002-01-31
Grosse Ile, MI | reply to blohner
quote:
Maybe it is time to abandon the claim to offer any kind of 911 service?
My thoughts exactly. I've had the same issue open with Vonage for a long time with no resolution. I live on an island that is somewhat geographically isolated. Having my 911 calls routed to the wrong substation (as in your case) is a disaster waiting to happen. I've tried in vain to get Vonage to tell me where my calls will be routed but they claim that they don't have access to the list. How can Vonage support a feature that is dependent on a "secret" list that no one can see or change, not even Vonage? I consider this feature officially "broken" and won't be relying on it at all. I've programmed one of my one-touch buttons on my kitchen phone with our local police dispatcher number and marked it "emergency".
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1.21 gigawatts! |
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ieee1394Premium
join:2001-08-25
Washington | reply to blohner
said by blohner:
Maybe it is time to abandon the claim to offer any kind of 911 service?
I don't think so. I think they just need to be more proactive about working around the limitations of the current setup. For instance, in the 911 setup area of the online account interface they could explicitly point note the telephone number (and other PSAP information) that has been assigned to our account. With this information we wouldn't have to be "testing" our 911 service, we could see ahead of time if the information is correct.
This is probably one of those situations, however, where it would be really handy to have speed dialing enabled with these accounts. That way WE could program our own emergency numbers and change them whenever WE want. While the Sipura ATA supports speed dialing, the Cisco doesn't BUT surely this is something that Vonage could offer through software (doesn't Voicepulse have speed dial?). |
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 GorkOu812ic
join:2001-10-06
Bountiful, UT | reply to Good Ol Dan
said by Good Ol Dan:
Most savvy E9-1-1 operators would run a "reverse 9-1-1" lookup from the caller ID in that case
As far as I understand, the phone companies which "own" the phone number keep the 911 database. Once the phone number was ported they would not longer keep the information in their database, right? And if old information was retained in the database it could be disastrous - I would guess the old phone company wouldn't be apprised of address changes. I don't know very much about such things, but this seems to make sense to me.
In our 911 center when a Vonage customer dials 911 it comes in through a business line, so we get no ALI information (does any exist from Vonage anyway?) at all. We have phones which display the caller ID number, but that is all, and as soon as either party disconnects that number disappears. We have learned via baptism by fire to watch that number very closely when we pick up the phone because *69 does not work from our phones. Sometimes, however, the caller hangs up before we're able to get the phone number written down. If circumstances indicated an emergency existed, there is nothing that can be done in a timely manner. NOTHING. (The phone company can SOMETIMES get trace information to us within HOURS or DAYS.)
In an emergency situation yes, we can use the 911 database to match an address with the phone number. But, my Vonage phone number isn't in that database, and I'd assume nobody's, at least in my jurisdiction, would be.
The last thing we would try would be to look up previous contacts in our local database to see if anyone had ever called us from that number before. I, though, have never called the police before. SO, if I called 911 from my Vonage line and screamed that I was being murdered but was forced to disconnect before providing my address, there would be no police response. (Unless the dispatcher recognized my voice and wasn't angry with me for being rude to them yesterday at work.) The only other possibility for the poor dispatcher would be to call Vonage and ask them for assistance. But, why would the dispatcher call Vonage? If I was able to get a phone number from caller ID I'd start with the PD with jurisdiction over the location where the area code and prefix of the phone number indicated the caller was calling from, not some strange company called Vonage which exists on some other planet. And, even if the dispatcher was savvy to such ideas, the only reason I can think of for trying Vonage over, say, Packet 8, is because Vonage has more subscribers. And who's to say the dispatcher could even find the phone number and get through to Vonage in a timely manner? And if they were able to, who's to say Vonage could even help them at all? ESPECIALLY if the dispatcher wasn't able to obtain a phone number from caller ID.
In the case where we do have a phone number to go on, unless someone has called the police department from that number before so we have a record we've created which connects the number to a name and/or address, the number doesn't do us any good.
I do realize technologies available in different jurisdictions can be different... I've worked in two different jurisdictions, and there were good points and bad with the 911 "setup" of each jurisdiction. I'd be hard pressed to decide which jurisdiction has a better implementation.
Just thought I'd share.  |
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| reply to areese
Did you expect it to work? |
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| reply to Gork
said by Gork:
SO, if I called 911 from my Vonage line and screamed that I was being murdered but was forced to disconnect before providing my address, there would be no police response.
In other words is the same as calling from a cell phone. I got the local 911 call centers number from the local police dept. and programmed it both into my speed dial on the Vonage phone and my cell phone. According to the police quite often 911 calls from a cell phone get misdirected and I'm better off calling the number they gave me than the regular 911. |
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areese
join:2003-01-09
Sherrills Ford, NC | reply to balaton
Well, yes, I indeed did expect it to work. After all, it is advertised as part of the service. I guess I'll reprogram my Mitel unit to dial the PSAP like I had it before Vonage offered 911.
I assume that Vonage is paying their E911 provider for this service;I sure hope they're hammering their vendor to get *their* money's worth.
I guess I need to learn to accept mediocrity.
The other reason for my post was to alert others to two things:
1) An advertised service that is not being provided
2) To point out another shortcoming of Vonage's customer service.
And I'll close with this: Overall, I am quite happy with Vonage. In spite of these shortcomings, it still beats the alternatives. |
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aximrPremium
join:2001-09-28
Wood Ridge, NJ Reviews:
·Verizon FiOS
| reply to areese
I don't rely on the Vonage 911 system. When I dropped my verizon line I made a trip to my local police department. I told them of my situation at that time because Vonage hadn't rolled out the 911 feature. They like most other police stations have a emergency number and a non-emergency number. I programed there emergency number into my phones and they recorded my number and address into there system. The police were really quite helpful and concerned. I'm not sure if all police stations have the ability to do this but it works. I called them a month ago because there was a bad accident at my corner and when I called the office knew my address. My suggestion is to stop in at you police station and let them know your situation. I think you will be surprised at how helpful they can be. They also have my cell phone number attached to my address as well in case there is a network problem. I not sure if it just my police department being helpful. I do live in a smaller town about 12,000 residents but a trip to the police station won't hurt.
[text was edited by author 2003-10-28 10:20:44] |
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| reply to Good Ol Dan
said by Good Ol Dan:
said by WeKnSmith:
Thanks for the suggestion Dan, the 911 operator did a reverse 911 lookup, and my Vonage line is not listed in the database.
Hmmm... is your number a transfer to Vonage, or a "new" Vonage-provided number?
D.
A new Vonage provided number. |
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 oliphant5Got Identity?Premium
join:2003-05-24
Corona, CA | reply to aximr
I did this with our local Sheriff's office and they were very helpful. They didn't record any information, but they did provide me with not only their emergency numbers, but also direct emergency numbers for the fire department and poison control so I just programmed them into speed dial on my phones and wrote them onto cards and stuck them to the phones (like my parents did in the pre-911 days).
But the way I look at it, is it worth paying double EVERY MONTH just in case I need 911. To me no. I can dial them directly and also have a cellular phone. If there is something so problematic that power is lost and cell towers don't work then the 911 lines will be so jammed that you won't see a timely response anyway. It's faster to call Domino's
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-- Munis Killed the Telco Star -- Powered by Barry McKockenner Racing in association with Jack Mikkokov Motorsports |
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GorkOu812ic
join:2001-10-06
Bountiful, UT | said by oliphant5:
... is it worth paying double EVERY MONTH just in case I need 911 ... It's faster to call Domino's
I'm with you on that one! |
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