* Call-handling intermediaries route 911 calls for VoIP users
A few weeks ago we introduced a series of columns featuring guest commentary on E-911 by our colleague Jim Cavanagh of the Consultant Registry. Over the past few years, Jim has become one of the foremost authorities on E-911. This week, we’ll pick up on that series, with his comments on the state-of-the-art from the call center perspective.
Jim writes:
“When the first 911 call was made on Feb. 16, 1968, in Halleyville, Ala., both ends of the call were controlled by a single phone company. The Telecom Act of 1996 was the first real opportunity for the public safety community to have to deal with multiple sources of 911 calls and, even so, it was more of a scare than a reality as the number of competitive local exchange carriers fell far short of estimates.
“The coming of VoIP, served up in the U.S. by almost 500 different providers, represents not only the next phase in the evolution of telephone service but also a monumental challenge to the already stretched resources of the 911 call centers known as Public Safety Answering Points (PSAP). The good news is that PSAPs will not have to deal with all VoIP providers directly, nor will VoIP providers need to establish relationships with and connect to the approximately 6,250 PSAPs that exist in the U.S., but rather will work through one of maybe half a dozen aggregators such as TCS, MCI, Intrado or Level 3 that are stepping into the fray to help bring order to chaos.
“The 911 call-handling intermediaries are providing services as basic as simply matching the calling party number with their ‘home’ PSAP to call centers where calls are actually answered as a ‘front end’ service to the real 911 PSAP prior to routing. One benefit of the call center approach is that routing may then be done either to the ‘home’ PSAP or to the PSAP nearest a mobile VoIP user. Some in the 911 community would argue that an intermediary call center robs valuable seconds from the 911 responders, but this is viewed by many as only an interim solution.
“The bottom line for the 911 community, however, is that 911 emergency calling, what was once an afterthought in providing VoIP service, is now getting the full attention it deserves and that sane, sensible solutions that put a minimum drain on resources are being put into place.”
We’ll continue this discussion in the next newsletter.
