More on Vonage service disruptions...

Fri Mar 4 17:59:52 UTC 2005

Replying to myself...

Yes, I am aware that a battery backup in the VoIP adapter doesn't do 
you much good if you don't have power on the cable/DSL modem and any 
intermediate gear - or your wireless phone, for that matter...

That said, this could be a feature that customers could be looking for 
as IP connectivity becomes more of a utility-like service.

-C

On Mar 4, 2005, at 12:45 PM, Christopher Woodfield wrote:

>
> This does bring up a hardware design question...I'm wondering how 
> difficult of an engineering/marketing problem it would be to design 
> VoIP adapters with built-in backup batteries. How does the power 
> consumption profile of a VoIP adapter compare to, say, a cellphone? 
> What would this add to the cost of the device, and how long could the 
> battery last?
>
> -C
>
> On Mar 3, 2005, at 10:25 PM, Scott Morris wrote:
>
>>
>> Perhaps it varies by state, but I thought part of the E-911 service
>> regulations was that if you were offering (charging) for it, you had 
>> to
>> offer it as "lifeline" service which meant it had to survive power 
>> outage.
>> *shrug*
>>
>> I guess the original regs weren't written with these things in mind!
>>
>> Scott
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: owner-nanog at merit.edu [mailto:owner-nanog at merit.edu] On Behalf 
>> Of John
>> Levine
>> Sent: Thursday, March 03, 2005 9:17 PM
>> To: nanog at nanog.org
>> Cc: fergdawg at netzero.net
>> Subject: Re: More on Vonage service disruptions...
>>
>>
>>> There was actually a story in USA Today a couple of days ago where a
>>> family tried calling 911 on their VoIP service during a burglary only
>>> to be told by a recorded message that they must "dial 911 from 
>>> another
>>> phone"...
>>
>> I was surprised to see on Packet8's web site that they now offer E911 
>> in a
>> lot of places.  You have to have a local phone number and pay an extra
>> $1.50/mo.  They remind you that if your power goes out, your phone 
>> still
>> won't work, but if you can call 911, it'll be a real 911 call.
>>
>> This still has little to do with port blocking, but a lot to do with 
>> the
>> whole question of what level of service people are paying for vs.
>> what level they think they are paying for.
>>
>> Regards,
>> John Levine, johnl at iecc.com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for
>> Dummies", Information Superhighwayman wanna-be, 
>> http://www.johnlevine.com,
>> Mayor "I dropped the toothpaste", said Tom, crestfallenly.
>>
>>
>