Vontage for E911 only patch?

Jonathan KC8RYW · Post by **Jonathan KC8RYW** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 10:12 pm

People have used old bag phones with no service and a POTS adapter, as well as telephone lines without service for making monthly-cost-free 911-only autopatches. Regardless of if these have service or not, 911 still goes through.

A thought I had tonight was if VoIP like Vontage allows 911 calls on equipment without service. Does anyone know?

d119 · Post by **d119** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 10:46 pm

Vonage does not process E911 calls due to the nature of their system. 911 calls on Vonage route to the 7-digit non-emergency number.

Therefore, I dont think Vonage would process ANY calls without an account.

How about a bag phone with a dial tone generator?

Post by **xmo** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 6:10 am

The FCC passed new rules last year that require VOIP phone companies to provide traditional 911 service.

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/a ... -116A1.pdf

Intrado, the nations largest ALI database provider is working with the industry to develop the technology to route VOIP 911 calls to the correct PSAP.

JAYMZ · Post by **JAYMZ** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 6:40 am

d119 wrote:Vonage does not process E911 calls due to the nature of their system. 911 calls on Vonage route to the 7-digit non-emergency number.

Therefore, I dont think Vonage would process ANY calls without an account.

How about a bag phone with a dial tone generator?

YES!!

They do work for 911 service. Because of the mandates from the FCC all VOIP companies must have an automatic routing solution for 911 calls. Vonage has been ringing into my 911 center since September. They are still working on ANI/ALI issues, but the calls are at least coming here. (Intrado also does most of the Cellular 911 technology, at least in the US)

My friend's repeater has a Vonage Autopatch on it that we tested for 911 service. It rang right to my call station too...

Screenshot:

You'll notice on the ALI screen you have the phone system type is VOIP (As opposed to RESD, BUSN, PBXN, CTRX, blah blah) and they assign a P-ANI (to the right of the ESN=955) to the call as well. So it seems the ANI/ALI will work in slightly the same way as the Cellular 911 technology.

tvsjr · Post by **tvsjr** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 9:22 am

Comic Sans? For a dispatch terminal? Whoever configured that should be summarily removed from the gene pool.

http://bancomicsans.com/

JAYMZ · Post by **JAYMZ** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 7:14 am

I set that myself.. as my preference.

There are only a dozen or so decent fonts available on it, and Comic Sans Bold 10 point type fits perfectly on the screen in such a way that I can read it.

The default fonts left me squinting and leaving work after 3 hours with a migraine.

jayres · Post by **jayres** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 9:27 pm

Hey Jaymz,

What 911 Platform is that? Don't recognize it off hand...

JAYMZ · Post by **JAYMZ** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 5:51 am

Plant Equipment.

Vesta Pallas.

It is a PBX based phone system.

jayres · Post by **jayres** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 12:47 pm

Ahh... very good, gotten spoiled by the Zetron and CML stuff out here...

JAYMZ · Post by **JAYMZ** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 2:22 pm

Ah yes, Fine Business.

We looked at the Zetron stuff, but took this over that because Verizon was more willing to support the Vesta Pallas system.

chipjumper · Post by **chipjumper** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 8:24 pm

I don't wanna go o/t too much but if I have a former POTS line in my house that has had the service cancelled, I can still dial 911? I don't here any DTMF tones...

Jonathan KC8RYW · Post by **Jonathan KC8RYW** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 8:30 pm

chipjumper wrote:I don't wanna go o/t too much but if I have a former POTS line in my house that has had the service cancelled, I can still dial 911? I don't here any DTMF tones...

If you can't hear DTMF tones, and there isn't voltage on this line, chances are it's DEAD. Check at the Telephone Network Interface, to see if they disconnected it there.

440roadrunner · Post by **440roadrunner** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 7:31 am

I don't wanna go o/t too much but if I have a former POTS line in my house that has had the service cancelled, I can still dial 911? I don't here any DTMF tones...

Well, you've already GONE off topic. If you want to ask a question, you should start your own thread.

Probably the easiest way to get home 911 service without a phone is to find a thrift store and buy a used cell phone. You don't need a phone service contract, only a phone that is in operating condition. There are two numbers that a cell phone will call when deactivated---611m the phone provider, and 911 Unfortunately, most of them need to be charged to work, and so need a good battery. Some older phones, like the old Motorola flip phones, would work directly off the car adaptor, without a battery.

bellersley · Post by **bellersley** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 1:03 pm

Just my 2 cents, but we used to use a large VoIP service for our office lines. We had nothing but problems. The 911 ALI came back to the provider's drop, some 40 miles away. They told us that 911 service was "not supported at this time".

jim · Post by **jim** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 2:20 pm

I use VoIP at my shop. The problem is that Adelphia's steam-powered cable equipment dies instantly when the power goes out. I have battery backup and genset on everything here and I'm at the mercy of the damn ISP.