nanog mailing list archives
Re: FCC To Require 911 for VoIP
From: Iljitsch van Beijnum <iljitsch () muada com>
Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2005 10:22:22 +0200
On 29-apr-2005, at 3:12, Owen DeLong wrote:
Maybe a satellite network that continuously transmit locationbeacon information which can be used to triangulate one's location woulddo the trick?
I submit that I don't necessarily want my communications device or my location tracked at all times by the government.
Well, adding a GPS receiver to a mobile VoIP phone doesn't automatically enable the government to track your location at all times.
My point is not the need for location, but, that it is impractical to reliably implement the traditional 911 model for VOIP.
I don't think VoIP is ever going to be as reliable as traditional telephony. But, neither are cell phones so that's not necessarily a disqualification.
The traditional 911 model depends on being able to make determination of at least a roughly correct 911 service provider based on connection point. (Cell site, telco central office, service location, etc.).
None of these are available for many VOIP services.
But there is absolutely no reason why this feature can't be added to VoIP. The first order of business is for the phone to know its location. For truely mobile devices this probably means GPS, but for less mobile devices I can imagine a networked location discovery protocol: a periodic broadcast or a DHCP option or some such. The phone can then tell the SIP server or whatever similar system it uses what its location is, and the SIP server can then make call routing decisions based on the phone's location for certain types of calls.
For extra credit the paranoid among us may design a system where the SIP server only gets to hear the location when the user makes a call for which location information is required.
Don't forget that we're in a transition period right now. Right now VoIP is mostly used as a last mile technology which is a huge waste of potential. All of this will get much more interesting when end-to- end VoIP calls become the norm.
Current thread:
- FCC To Require 911 for VoIP Fergie (Paul Ferguson) (Apr 28)
- Re: FCC To Require 911 for VoIP Owen DeLong (Apr 28)
- Re: FCC To Require 911 for VoIP Iljitsch van Beijnum (Apr 28)
- Re: FCC To Require 911 for VoIP Owen DeLong (Apr 28)
- Re: FCC To Require 911 for VoIP Iljitsch van Beijnum (Apr 29)
- Re: FCC To Require 911 for VoIP Peter & Karin Dambier (Apr 29)
- Re: FCC To Require 911 for VoIP Iljitsch van Beijnum (Apr 28)
- Re: FCC To Require 911 for VoIP Owen DeLong (Apr 28)
- Re: FCC To Require 911 for VoIP Michael . Dillon (Apr 29)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Re: FCC To Require 911 for VoIP Fergie (Paul Ferguson) (Apr 28)
- Re: FCC To Require 911 for VoIP Peter & Karin Dambier (Apr 29)
- RE: FCC To Require 911 for VoIP Neil J. McRae (Apr 29)