The Jeff Pulver Blog: Senate Commerce Committee Sends Emergency Response Message to FCC:

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November 03, 2005

Senate Commerce Committee Sends Emergency Response Message to FCC:

Yesterday afternoon, the Senate Commerce Committee UNANIMOUSLY approved S. 1063, the ''E9-1-1 Improvement Act." The legislation would do the following:

* requires the FCC to develop new rules for VoIP 9-1-1 within 120 days;
* gives VoIP providers direct access to the 9-1-1 network;
* establishes FCC waiver authority to provide flexibility;
* ensures VoIP services are never cut off due to issues related to 9-1-1 capabilities;
* provides equivalent liability protection for VoIP 911 as other phone services;
* acknowledges the importance of industry's role in developing technological standards and solutions for automatically identifying the geographic location of users of nomadic VoIP service; and
* requires the creation of a national plan for a next generation 9-1-1 system that uses VoIP to provide breakthrough advances in emergency communications.

First of all, big kudos to Jim Kohlenberger and the VON Coalition for effectively working with the Senate to produce a fair and balanced bill that managed to garner a unanimous committee vote.

I take this vote as an overwhelming signal from the Senate to the FCC that there should be no VoIP service shut offs come November 28. Instead, the Senate wants the FCC to establish a more equitable framework, a more realistic timeframe, and a more viable and forward-looking technological approach.

I thought Senators Sununu and Allen were particularly strong in fighting to ensure that IP-based communications providers are not saddled with overly-intrusive and unnecessary micro-management by regulators.

Senator Allen's amendment (which passed by acclamation) excluding separate one-way services from the definition of services subject to E-911 obligations was a particularly important addition from the perspective of an IP-based communications provider who is not offering a traditional telephone replacement service.

If the FCC takes to heart the Senate vote, I hope it will recognize that disconnection could impede America's ability to communicate in an emergency. VoIP users can only be harmed by having these potentially life saving VoIP services disconnected because they may only have basic 911 from locations where E911 is not yet available. Requiring the disconnection of residential, business, university, or government users can remove an important communications tool and does not promote the expeditious deployment of E911 for VoIP. No other type of phone service has ever been required by the FCC to disconnect consumers when they are capable of providing basic 911 but not E911. It would be tragic if a customer who today may have 911 as a part of their VoIP service had their VoIP service shut off and then attempted to use that service in an emergency. Moreover, not every emergency requires a call to 911. For instance, a mother may try to call a poison control center; a distressed teenager may try to call a suicide prevention line; a father may need to notify a child about the health of a grandparent; and a student may need to call home from her dorm to tell her parents she arrived at school safely. These are all examples of "emergency" calls that do not involve the dialing of 911.

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