On Thu, 5 May 2005 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > This is something I've been wondering about. What does this mean for the > small US based VOIP providers? We don't have the cash or the resources > to partner with the verizon's of the world in order to provide E911 > Services. > If the ruling comes down, doesn't this essentially kill all of us small > providers? This also helps the bigger boys too I would assume. Thus > unfairly providing advantage to them. We could bring a class action > lawsuit if it came down to it. > > What do you guys thing of all this mess and how it affects us? Instead of screaming "sky is falling", how about actually *doing* something about e911? Seriously, your users *need* it. You don't need to partner with all the "verizons", you only need to partner with someone who can deliver calls to 911 for you.
There are three parts to have working e911 solution: 1) Knowing which PSAP to deliver calls to. This is easier if your customer is at fixed location, otherwise, you need to have customer provide you with their location and pay someone (Intrado provides this) to translate physical address to the PSAP. 2) Delivering calls to PSAP: Again, this is easier if you provide service in just a single LATA. In that case, the telco from whom you buy PRIs will deliver calls to the selective router, and selective router will route call to the correct PSAP based on the ANI passed by you. If you provide nationwide service, it is more complicated, as in general, PSAPs don't have a callable "10-digit number" (that you can call like a regular number on PSTN), and you have to deliver calls to the correct selective router. However, there's push by NENA and Intrado to make PSAPs have a "10-digit number" that would be answered 24/7 by the 911 calltakers (just like the selective router number). So this may change. In order to deliver calls to selective router, you should first inquire with whoever provides you with the origination service. *they* certainly have LATA presence and can deliver the calls to it. Now, your carrier may or may not provide this service, but its not rocket science, and if push comes to shove, everyone obviously will do this. 3) Assume that you managed to deliver call to the correct PSAP. Now, call-takers need to find the location of the caller. The database of locations is called "PS/ALI" (from the old "private switch/automatic location identification" that was used so companies with large pbxs could tell the emergency responders exact location (building/floor) of a given phone number). Generally, these databases are maintained as a service by the ILEC. Sometimes, you can contract with ILEC directly to get access to the local database, more often, you will probably want to work through Intrado to update the records. It ain't cheap, but again, it is not rocket science. The only class suits you should be thinking about are suits filed by your customers' estate when someone dies because you didn't provide e911 service. Yes, doing proper telephony is hard. Yes, maybe smallest shops (aka a guy with cable modem and [EMAIL PROTECTED]) will be unable to compete. But frankly, I think its a good thing for the industry. Alex Pilosov | DSL, Colocation, Hosting Services President | [EMAIL PROTECTED] 877-PILOSOFT x601 Pilosoft, Inc. | http://www.pilosoft.com _______________________________________________ Asterisk-Biz mailing list [email protected] http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz
