FCC Requires Vonage To Annoy Customers

At Techdirt, we've fallen on the side of Vonage when it comes to the attacks many have launched claiming Vonage 911 service is unclear, and that Vonage should plainly state that their 911 service is NOT automatically location-enabled, and doesn't connect directly to the 911 PSAPs. We are certain Vonage has been quite clear to their customers - almost annoyingly so. We suspect that these grumblings come mostly from ILECs who don't like the competition, and from local regulators, who don't like missing out on taxing voice calls. My experience as a long-time Vonage customer is that they have been extremely explicit about telling me the limitations of their 911, right from day 1. Well, today Vonage customers received a notice, compliments of the FCC, that Vonage would cut off service if users do not login to account webpages and certify understanding (for the 7th time) that Vonage 911 is not POTS 911. The FCC also requires Vonage to do so separately for each line, which means three times for me. I can understand the FCC telling Vonage that all new customers must acknowledge the limitations of VoIP 911 to activate service, but they should have spared all the old customers the repeated aggravation.

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