AT&T makes VoIP 911-capable

• AT&T says it's solved a problem that has dogged Internet-based phone service: how to provide emergency 911 to people who use VoIP --- short for Voice over Internet Protocol --- on the road.
• The problem: VoIP users who call 911 from hotels and other remote sites sometimes can't be found by 911 operators.
• That's because the correct locations of these "nomadic" users don't show up on operators' screens.
• The Federal Communications Commission has given Internet phone carriers until Nov. 28 to make their VoIP services 911-capable.
• AT&T, which invented the USA's 911 service in 1968, estimates that about 5% of its 53,000 VoIP customers use the service on the road.
• There are about 2 million VoIP users nationwide.
• "That is the bane of everybody's existence," says Robert Quinn, an AT&T vice president.
• AT&T's nomadic solution, called Heartbeat, uses its Internet network to track the location of users.
• AT&T's VoIP units --- sold under the CallVantage name --- are programmed to contact the carrier's global network once every 24 hours.
• If a customer fails to verify he's moved to a remote location, AT&T has no way to check, Quinn says.
• CallVantage now connects to about 50% of the "public safety administration points" that administer the 911 program.
• Still, he says, AT&T is hopeful it will help educate the public about VoIP, particularly the 911 limitations.
• AT&T, which has been sold to SBC --- the deal could close as early as next month --- is open to licensing its Heartbeat solution to other carriers, Quinn says.
• The letter outlining the Heartbeat plan was sent to the FCC on Friday.
• Quinn says AT&T developed the plan after talking with FCC Chairman Kevin Martin.