Everybody's been getting very excited about Voice over Internet Protocol this year. Few technologies have got as many tech headlines this year as Skype, Vonage and the estimated 1,100 other VoIP providers.
With all this talk of ditching your landline in favour of an internet solution, it was only a matter of time before people started getting worried about the emergency services.
And America's Federal Communications Commission has now decided that VoIP providers must offer full 911 services to consumers. Here's Red Herring:
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin called the ruling an action "to remedy a very serious problem—one quite literally of life or death for the millions of customers who subscribe to VoIP service as a substitute for traditional phone service."
Before ruling, the commission listened to the testimonials of families affected by faulty emergency service access. The largest VoIP provider, Vonage, is being sued by the states of Texas and Connecticut.
I suppose it's a moot point to wonder how you call the fire brigade on your softphone if the power's gone off. Or wonder if the wide penetration of mobile phones makes all this a bit redundant anyway.
But no doubt some media will paint this as government reining in those crazy technogeeks. But what concerns me here is that these guys have let themselves get behind the news cycle; surely providing emergency service support should be one of the major priorities of any serious telco... and even if it takes significant investment, it lets you break good news stories.
Beat the curve, and look good doing it.
