New VoIP E911 Law gets Signed, Praised

Signed into law by President Bush last week, the "New and Emerging Technologies 911 Improvement Act of 2008" is winning praise from Vonage and others.

The new law seeks to ensure phone calls made through VoIP get the same access and protections as other carriers when hooking into 911 services, including rights of interconnection, as a commercial mobile service. States can also collect fees for 911 or E911 services from VoIP service providers so long as those fees don't exceed those imposed upon subscribers of other services.

Vonage is happy because carriers now have to treat them as an equal, while the VON Coalition gets a national plan for a "next generation" 911 system using VoIP and other technologies to provide lots of bells and whistles for emergency communications.

Of course, there's the little matter that about 50 percent of U.S. counties, boroughs and parishes do not have E911 capabilities. 

For more:
- FCW.com new VoIP E-911 law [1] report

Related articles:
The ultimate E911 compliance test [2]: Dial
911 bill [3] passes House