AAPCC VoIP Task Force Update Marliese Kimmons

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AAPCC VoIP Task Force UpdateMarliese Kimmons
Henry SpillerMidyear Directors MeetingTampa,
FloridaFebruary 6, 2006
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AAPCC VoIP Task Force Update

• VoIP Overview
• VoIP Customers
• Major VoIP Providers
• Significance of VoIP to PCCs
• VoIP vs. Cell Phone Misroutes
• Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Ruling
• AAPCC Partnership with National Emergency Number
  Association (NENA)
• AAPCC VoIP Task Force

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VoIP Overview

• Voice over Internet Protocol is a phone service
  that uses broadband Internet connections instead
  of analog phone lines
• Consumers may use travel phone adapter which
  allows nomadic usage
• Digital Voice is a subsection of VoIP that uses
  cable routing, similar to traditional land lines
  (no nomadic capability)

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VoIP Customers

• 2004 - Approximately 1 million customers
• 2005 - Estimated 2.5 million customers
• 3.5 of all US households
• Estimated 1/3 of these are Digital Voice
• 2008 - Estimated 17 million customers
• 24 of all US households
• Customers switching to VoIP because it is much
  less expensive than traditional phone service

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Major VoIP Providers

• Vonage 1.3 million VoIP customers
• Time/Warner Cable (Digital Voice) more than
  600,000 VoIP customers
• Comcast (Digital Voice) approximately 250,000
  VoIP customers

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Significance of VoIP to PCCs

• Some VoIP calls misroute to the wrong poison
  center
• Calls misroute because VoIP customers are
  identified by IP address instead of phone
  numbers. VoIP providers then translate IP
  address into phone numbers that may not reflect
  actual customer location.

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VoIP vs. Cell Phone Misroutes

• Both cell phone and VoIP calls can misroute when
  callers travel outside of their home area
• cell phones may misroute if provider routes calls
  based on home area code
• VoIP calls may misroute because location
  identifiers rely on customer self reporting
• Cell phones may misroute at home due to vendors
  adding additional information to caller number,
  clouding the area code

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Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Ruling

• June 2005 - FCC issued VoIP and E911 Order
• Requires all VoIP providers to support E911
  services
• Not a final solution due to reliance on customer
  self reporting of location
• Does not specifically include 1-800-222-1222 or
  other emergency service numbers

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AAPCC Partnership with National Emergency Number
Association (NENA)

• NENA is the only international association
  focused solely on the delivery of 911 services
• August 2005 AAPCC NENA submitted Joint
  Comments to the FCC urging inclusion of other
  emergency service numbers in VoIP Order
• Establishing goals for future collaboration

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AAPCC VoIP Task Force

• Current VoIP Solutions
• Vonage
• Earthlink
• The Future of VoIP
• Alternate forms of data stream
• Poison Center Actions
• Routing Errors Form