FCC To Require 911 for VoIP

Fri Apr 29 08:22:22 UTC 2005

On 29-apr-2005, at 3:12, Owen DeLong wrote:

>> Maybe a satellite network that continuously transmit  location
>> beacon information which can be used to triangulate one's   
>> location would
>> do the trick?

> I submit that I don't necessarily want my communications device or my
> location tracked at all times by the government.

Well, adding a GPS receiver to a mobile VoIP phone doesn't  
automatically enable the government to track your location at all times.

> My point is not the
> need for location, but, that it is impractical to reliably implement
> the traditional 911 model for VOIP.

I don't think VoIP is ever going to be as reliable as traditional  
telephony. But, neither are cell phones so that's not necessarily a  
disqualification.

> The traditional 911 model depends on being able to make determination
> of at least a roughly correct 911 service provider based on connection
> point.  (Cell site, telco central office, service location, etc.).

> None of these are available for many VOIP services.

But there is absolutely no reason why this feature can't be added to  
VoIP. The first order of business is for the phone to know its  
location. For truely mobile devices this probably means GPS, but for  
less mobile devices I can imagine a networked location discovery  
protocol: a periodic broadcast or a DHCP option or some such. The  
phone can then tell the SIP server or whatever similar system it uses  
what its location is, and the SIP server can then make call routing  
decisions based on the phone's location for certain types of calls.

For extra credit the paranoid among us may design a system where the  
SIP server only gets to hear the location when the user makes a call  
for which location information is required.

Don't forget that we're in a transition period right now. Right now  
VoIP is mostly used as a last mile technology which is a huge waste  
of potential. All of this will get much more interesting when end-to- 
end VoIP calls become the norm.