Web phones fuel safety concerns

• A month later, a woman in Torrington, Conn., raced her choking baby to a hospital when she couldn't make a similar emergency call.
• And in February, a Houston teenager--also using an Internet phone to dial 911--failed to get through after an intruder shot and wounded her parents.
• The three incidents have been cited as worst-case scenarios by the Federal Communications Commission, which last month ordered makers of Internet phones to hook up directly to 911 centers by September.
• However, the potential for another 911 Internet call to fall through the cracks in the interim remains a concern, say Illinois officials, who fear the worst even though no problems have been reported here.
• Last week, Evanston and the Lake County sheriff's office urged residents to read the fine print about their 911 services--or lack of them--when they purchase Internet phones.
• "The Internet phones have put us back into the Dark Ages as far as emergency responses go," said Libertyville Mayor Jeffrey Harger, one of several suburban mayors who recently complained about the problem to federal officials.
• The wireless phones, which use a high-speed Internet connection instead of a standard phone line, don't always connect directly to emergency 911 centers, creating potentially life-threatening delays, local officials say.
• The governor proposed legislation this spring that would have enacted stiff fines against Internet phone providers that failed to fix the 911 problem.
• Officials at the Chicago 911 Emergency Communications Center are aware of the problem and hope it is solved before a tragedy occurs, a spokeswoman said.
• Since their debut two years ago, Internet phones have been installed in an estimated 1 million households, according to industry officials.
• Vonage offers unlimited calling in the United States and Canada for as low as $24.99 a month, or about half as much as conventional phones, according to industry figures.