On Tue, 2005-07-05 at 20:13 -0400, Doug McGarrett wrote:
I'm not sure whether this thread ulimately results in some kind of VOIP, since I have not been following the thread very astutely. A radio "Tech Brief" from WINS in New York today mentions the fact that many VOIP solutions do not permit 911 calls to be located to the premises where they originate. This could be a serious problem for someone who could not, for some reason, speak. --Gagged, overcome by smoke, stroke victim, whatever. The radio suggests that anyone considering a VOIP solution for telephone service verify with the supplier whether a location function is available and exists on the server.
(The VOIP services advertised in this NY area do not require a computer. You just plug your local lines into some sort of audio router and the router into the Internet, and Bob's your uncle.)
VoIP does not have a concept of the "local loop" as in PSTN. The "local
loop" translates to a physical address that emergency services can
respond to.
However, my VoIP provider does have 911 feature. I have a VoIP box - a
regular phone plugs into it and it does the Voice <-> IP packets
conversion.
The VoIP provider must be maintaining a mapping of phone no. to my
physical address and that is presented to 911 if I make a call from my
VoIP box. The other issue with VoIP is that all your "network"
equipment must be powered by UPS, whereas in a regular land line -48V
comes from the Tel. Exchg.
--
Arun Khan