Why is everyone talking so much about E911, the simple three-digit number we reserve for emergency situations? The key is in the "E," and it stands for “enhanced”. This means your 911 call automatically goes to the public safety answering point, enabling a local operator to identify the physical address and phone number of your call. E911 has always been included with Cox’s telephone service — from the day it was launched in 1997, carrying through all of launches to date, and beyond -- including recent launches of Cox Digital Telephone via VoIP technology.

In May, however, a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruling mandated Enhanced 911 (E911) availability for all subscribers with telephone modem equipment — regardless of the technology hurdles that some providers will face. Some speculate that this ruling is the result of recent tragedies in which people who subscribed to Internet-based telephone service could not be located when they dialed "911." No matter the rationale, this ruling is good for the safety of Americans but heightens the need to recognize the different flavors of VoIP technology and not treat all users of VoIP technology the same.

Most cable telephony providers, including Cox, have always provided E911. But for Internet Telephone providers, the E911 requirements open up a whole other can of worms as they begin the challenge of getting RBOCs to cooperate and open up access to their E911 facilities at reasonable rates—and to do so within the FCC deadline. This is no small challenge for the Internet Telephone providers. Alternatively, of course, they may just agree to be put out of business by the RBOCS...