Vonage can give 97.6 percent of subscribers “the full suite of E911 service,” it told the FCC in a Thursday report. “All such 911 calls are delivered via the native 911 network to the geographically appropriate PSAP and the PSAP is able to access both call back information and location information for that customer,” it said. Most other Vonage customers have limited service for various reasons. For example, 0.6 percent involve PSAPs unable to handle location or call back information, so Vonage provides them “voice-only 911 service.”

Wireless carriers have beefed up networks and can respond to emergency-driven call surges, executives of the major wireless companies said Tuesday at an FCC summit on managing network surges in crises. But carrier officials said no one can afford to build a network able to handle all calls at all times.

The West Virginia Public Service Commission gave Cabell County officials until Oct. 5 to justify using money from the county’s E-911 fund to pay salaries of courthouse employees. The county commission in July voted to shift $200,000 from the E-911 fund to the payroll account to cover courthouse employee raises and other administrative costs. County Commissioner Kent Carper, who voted against the transfer, asked the PSC whether the action was legal. Carper said his reading of state law is that E-911 funds can be used only for expenses directly related to E-911 and public safety. The county’s initial response to PSC inquiries was that the PSC has no jurisdiction over how counties run their 911 systems. But the PSC concluded it has jurisdiction over how counties use the funds from the E-911 fees they collect and the right to demand accountability for Cabell County’s use of the money.

VoIP providers urged the FCC not to apply wireless- style E-911 location standards to their services, saying they can’t offer automatic location yet but are working on it. “There is no technically feasible method for VoIP providers to provide a customer’s location automatically when the customer calls 911,” Verizon said in a reply filed in a broader proceeding on improving wireless E-911 location standards (CD Aug 22 p3). Wireless accuracy requirements for VoIP services could “slow implementation of innovative VoIP solutions,” warned the VON Coalition. Without a “technically feasible approach to autolocation,” imposing a mandate on VoIP providers “would do more harm than good at this point,” the NCTA said.

Public safety groups and industry officials said they support an E-911 bill (HR-3403), with the exception of USTelecom, which couldn’t commit to full endorsement of the measure, they told the House Telecom Subcommittee Wednesday. The bipartisan bill, which has been in the works for more than two years, would facilitate deployment of IP-enabled 911 and E-911 services. While there is still squabbling over details, the hearing paved the way for a markup and final passage, lawmakers said.

AT&T warned that the FCC is on perilous legal ground in approving rules for E-911 location measurement before it wrapped up a broader rulemaking. Carriers are widely expected to challenge the Sept. 11 order in federal court (CD Sept 11 Special Bulletin). Carriers were upset last week when the FCC established a five-year deadline, with benchmarks, for measuring success in locating wireless E- 911 callers at the public safety answering point (PSAP) level rather than using statewide averaging. The FCC action was stage one of a two-part E-911 rulemaking, which focused on measurement standards. Reply comments in the next phase, looking at broader E-911 issues, were due this week.

Markup will proceed on a bill reauthorizing the five- year farm bill sometime before the Oct. 8 Columbus Day recess, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Thomas Harkin, D-Iowa, said Tuesday. The multi-title bill would set up a national center focusing on rural telecommunications to assess service and recommend strategies for extending services to rural areas, according to a discussion draft circulating in the Senate. Senate staffers are still working on the measure and changes are likely, a committee aide said.

The House Commerce Telecom Subcommittee announced the witness list for its Sept. 19 hearing on a 911 bill, HR-3403: National Emergency Number Association President Jason Barbour, Comcast Senior Vice President Catherine Avgiris, USTelecom Vice President for Industry Affairs Robert Mayer, EarthLink Executive Vice President Christopher Putala and Intrado Senior Vice President Craig Donaldson.

A compromise FCC order giving wireless carriers five years to upgrade systems before their success in locating callers will be measured at the public safety answering point (PSAP) level (CD Sept 11 Special Bulletin) landed with a thud among carriers. The FCC approved the order late Tuesday in an unusual night meeting.

On the eve of an FCC vote on new rules for locating wireless E-911 callers, public safety offered carriers a compromise, which is likely to be adopted in some form by the commission Tuesday. Under the compromise, carriers would have up to five years to meet new standards based on success in locating callers at the level of public safety answering points, but carriers would also have to meet various benchmarks before that deadline.