Apples to oranges dude. At least Ford supplied the vehicle with a seatbelt leaving the option of using it to you. You didn't have to tell Ford you would be needing a seatbelt installed ... it's already there.
At the end of the day, if 911 can be accessed by an ordinary PSTN or ISDN handset, with VoIP as an alternative to those 2 services, you should therefore experience the same services that PSTN and ISDN have accordingly. Of course, the laws you have in the US are somewhat more flexible and perhaps due to the expansive nature of your infrastructure compared to what we have here in Australia. One thing I can say from my end is that down here, the law enforces the requirement to support emergency calls from all telecommunications services and this will include VoIP as well. Working for our major telco here, this (emergency services situation) has been a very hot topic for us as we need to guarantee that if a customer chooses to have VoIP as their only service, emergency services will still be contactable. Proposals so far include integrated (i.e. NOT optional) battery backup systems, redundant systems at both the premises (in terms of a dedicated modem within the VoIP device itself) as well as the exchange. Granted, this is not a cheap venture by any stretch of the imagination but when you do have an emergency service that works extremely well and it's required by law to be constantly accessible, there's a lot of work to be done before it's released to the masses. So to answer someone else's question earlier in the piece, is it a privilege or a right? Depending where you are, it's a right. Seems like it's more of a privilege in the US given the heated debate behind it all. Adios, Tony --------------- TAMA - The Strongest Name in Drums --------------- -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Christopher Fisk Sent: Thursday, 24 March 2005 5:50 To: The Hardware List Subject: Re: [H] Texas Sues Vonage After Crime Victim Unable to Call 911 It's Fords fault you didn't wear a seatbelt. Christopher Fisk -- "Wow, so this is a real TV station, huh." -Fry "Well, it's a Fox affiliate." -TV worker guy "What are you showing right now?" -Fry "'Single Female Lawyer.' It's the season finale. Wanna watch?" -TV worker "I dunno. That's a chick show. I prefer programs of the genre, World's Blankiest Blank." -Fry "She is wearing the world's shortiest skirt." -TV worker guy "I'm in." -Fry