Vonage America Inc., a subsidiary of Vonage Holdings Corp., a leading Internet telephony provider, announced that its subscribers in San Francisco, Ca., are now equipped with Enhanced 911 (E911) -- a feature that automatically associates a physical address with the calling party's telephone number.
In addition to San Francisco, Vonage recently turned up E911 at an additional 400 local run emergency call centers across the U.S. in less than three months -- bringing the total percentage of Vonage U.S. subscriber lines that have E911 to over 83 percent.
In June 2005, the FCC gave Vonage, and all Internet-based phone service companies, 120 days to create an E911 system from scratch, and provide all of its customers, wherever they are in the U.S., with E911 service. In that amount of time, Vonage worked closely with local 911 centers, also known as Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs), across the country to turn on E911 for as many customers as it could. Currently, Vonage continues to test and turn up new PSAPs which are VoIP-ready every day and will continue to do so until Vonage customers have access to E911.
"Turning up San Francisco is a tremendous step for Vonage, as thousands more subscriber lines in California, one of Vonage's largest markets, now have full E911 capability," said Jeffrey A. Citron, chairman and chief strategist of Vonage Holdings Corp. "In just three months, Vonage was able to equip over 400 more locally run calling centers with E911. Vonage will continue to work with the FCC, regulators, Congress and public safety until PSAPs across the nation are equipped with E911."
Since June 2, 2006, Vonage has added the following counties to its list of those with E911 capabilities -- bringing the total number of calling centers with emergency 911 service to over 5300.