Daily News 2005/07/20

New break-through in VOIP----Headcall providing "911" service

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requires that VoIP providers shall provide public emergency service, such as "911", "110" and so on. However, Vonage and Skype, major VoIP providers in America and Europe, both announced that they are only VoIP or IM, and couldn't undertake such a task.

In regard to this issue, the reporter interviewed another VoIP operator---Headcall.

Headcall's speaker says: First, we should distinguish IM from VoIP. They are different from each other, although they look somewhat similar. It is understandable that Skype cannot support "911" service, because it is only an IM software. It is not a telephone system, and it doesn't need to take the place of telephone system. We cannot require QQ or MSN to provide "911" service and it is the same with Skype. However, it is strange that Vonage cannot provide "911" service, because VoIP will take the place of the existing telephone system one day. The new system must be able to provide public emergency service, such as "911" and "110". The requirements put forward by FCC for the VoIP providers are quite necessary and reasonable.

Cannot provide "911" service------What a serious problem it will be if, in the coming days, people can only get access to VoIP telephone service instead of the traditional ones. We don't like the idea that people have to reserve a traditional telephone set dedicated to "911" service when enjoying the benefits from new techniques. Therefore, Headcall gets the conclusion that it is quite necessary for both the traditional telephone system and VoIP system to provide public service, such as "911" and "110".
The reason why Vonage and Skype announced they couldn't provide such service is that they are not what the people are looking forward to. These systems are not complete telephone system, so they cannot take the place of traditional telephone system basically.

The reporter also managed to know that Headcall could provide the above-mentioned emergency service from the very beginning. The speaker of Headcall says that at present only Headcall can provide public emergency service, and in the competition between VoIP and traditional telephone system, Headcall will be the only winner.

Headcall's speaker says that they will provide soft switch software to all the public service providers.