"Brian A" <no_spam_bca1000@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:umfu53ttrcmvmf775d6sq5p9ecm0ialbke@4ax.com
> On Thu, 31 May 2007 20:38:52 +0100, "Graham"
> <me@privacy.com> wrote:

[snip]

> > Please leave things as they are. It's horses for
> > courses, the only thing the providers should be
> > compelled to do is clearly set out their services
> > limitations.
>
> voip.co.uk has always provided a 999 service, but, if I
> remember correctly, they do say that you may need to give
> your location. However, on their customer site, there is
> a place for entering your address details for the 999
> service.

To be quite honest, I don't know what all the fuss is about 999 access.
Most people have mobiles these days, in a business environment it's highly
unlikely that there will be nobody on site with one. There will also
usually be at least one BT line, perhaps for a fax (fax over SIP, for
example, is still somewhat problematic). This could be used for 999 calls,
perhaps..?

Here, my system is programmed so that any 999 calls are automatically
routed over the BT line, it's an easy step in the setup of the Fritz!Box
that acts as the main router/ATA.

> Frankly, as regards people being informed about the
> reliability of voip compared to a landline, I think it is
> just stupid.

People *are* stupid, you have to tell them how to do everything. Why, I
have no idea as they rarely read the instructions..!

> Why don't they suggest that vendors of cordless phones
> inform people that the phones won't work when the power
> goes off. It amounts to the same thing. If people can't
> work out that ATAs, and the like, require power to work
> then they have to be stupid - having said that I don't
> think that the majority of people are aware that their
> cordless phones won't work in a power outage. Some people
> say to me that they don't need their wired phone now they
> have cordless, I often have to inform them of the power
> problem.

Every cordless phone I've bought has a notice in the instruction book that
a wired phone will be required for emergency access in the event of a
power failure. But I'm one of those rare people that actually read them,
so I saw this ;-)

> Fortunately, when I get a power cut, my broadband still
> works so I power all my voip stuff with a 12V battery and
> an 240V inverter.

I run all my comms stuff off a UPS.

> Most of the people who use voip (excluding users of
> Vonage and similar companies) are well aware of voip
> limitations - they set up their own ATAs so they are not
> stupid.

Some of them are, unfortunately.

Ivor