911 calls made over Internet often get lower priority

Editor: We've been following the explosion of Voice over IP (VoIP) phone service since it entered the mainstream, and we've warned our readers that there are some drawbacks to the service. One is that 911 systems can't automatically detect the caller's location. Now it seems that issue has been resolved, and at least one VoIP service provider is incorporating the new technology.

Reprinted with permission.

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ST. PAUL (AP) - Emergency calls made using new Internet telephone services ring in through a emergency line and often aren't answered immediately, according to an official who runs Ramsey County's largest 911 emergency call center. Fred Fischer, a St. Paul police officer, added that the Internet emergency calls usually are more difficult to handle because the 911 operator must ask the identity and location of the caller. In a normal 911 call, that information automatically pops up when the operator answers the call.

"The benefit of the 911 system is that we know your location in the event that you can't speak to us," Fischer said. "We don't get that with the Internet calls."

Conventional wired phones are being displaced by a new technology called Voice Over Internet Protocol, or VOIP. VOIP uses a high-speed Internet connection to provide phone service instead of a conventional telephone line. But the technology is creating some problems for 911 operators.

VOIP service, which provides extensive or unlimited local and long-distance calling at discounted prices, converts the voice into digital bits that are transmitted over the public Internet or a private data network. The bits are converted back into a traditional phone signal just before the call reaches its destination.

Emergency officials say Vonage and AT&T's Call Vantage service have the difficulties Fischer describes, while Time Warner Cable's new Internet phone service doesn't.

Vonage didn't return a phone call to the Star Tribune of Minneapolis. AT&T said it's working on the problem.

"We recognize there are concerns out there, and we will resolve them," said Kerry Hibbs, an AT&T spokesman in Dallas. "We make very clear to our customers that our Call Vantage Internet phone service does not work the same as traditional landline 911."

The Federal Communications Commission is expected to rule in the next few months on whether Internet phone service should be regulated. If the FCC decides VOIP should be regulated, it must set up requirements for services such as 911, said Steve Seitz, spokesman for the National Emergency Number Association, a Washington professional organization for 911 operators.

At the same time, the FCC is expected to tell regional Bell telephone companies such as Qwest how much access to their 911 call-handling networks they must provide to VOIP companies. Qwest has told the FCC it would rather have the telephone and VOIP companies work out their own 911 policy, said Mary LaFave, director of public policy for advanced services, based in Denver.

Technical improvements for VOIP companies are being developed by Intrado Inc. of Longmont, Colo., which helps Vonage and AT&T connect their VOIP 911 calls to emergency call centers in the nontraditional way. Intrado, one of about a half-dozen such 911 intermediary firms nationwide, said it hopes to introduce a new service next year that will help VOIP providers connect to the traditional 911 calling network.

Such changes can't come soon enough for Nancy Pollock, executive director of the Metropolitan 911 Board, a St. Paul organization that oversees 911 service for the seven-country metropolitan area.

She's been upset by occasional 911 lapses, such as the routing of 911 Internet telephone calls to the wrong answering location.

"It's fairly misleading, in our opinion, to say that all Internet telephone service is 911 compatible," she said.

But some Internet calling is 911-compatible. Time Warner Cable's new Internet phone service, which is being tested and should be available within 90 days, routes 911 calls via Qwest's conventional 911 network to the nearest call center. As a result, the caller's name, address and phone number automatically appear on the 911 operator's computer screen.

That's mostly because Time Warner has agreed, for now, to be regulated by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission and has been certified by the commission as a company authorized to compete with Qwest for local telephone customers. That designation gives Time Warner access to a special Qwest call routing network for 911 calls.

For now, emergency officials want consumers to understand that VOIP 911 calls may not be as good as they think.

"VOIP is a wonderful thing, and it allows you to make long-distance calls dirt cheap," Fischer said. "But I don't think the sellers of those services always make their customers aware that they are not getting true 911 service.".