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Verizon Adds E911 Emergency Calling to Its VoiceWing Broadband Phone Service in New York City

July 11, 2005

NEW YORK, July 11 /PRNewswire/Press Release -- Verizon's VoiceWing Broadband Phone Service can now provide customers in New York City with full access to E911 emergency services. VoiceWing customers in the city who have properly registered their service address with VoiceWing will have their 911 calls delivered over a dedicated network to the Enhanced 911 system. The system automatically provides emergency response operators with the VoiceWing callers' telephone numbers, names and service addresses. "Our VoiceWing customers in New York City now benefit from having E911 service that works as efficiently and effectively as wireline and wireless emergency calling," said Michael Hassett, senior vice president for Verizon's Retail Markets Group. "We are working hard to replicate the New York City arrangement in other areas so that all our VoiceWing customers can have E911 service."

When setting up or moving their service, VoiceWing customers must register their service locations either online or by calling VoiceWing customer service. If that location is in one of New York's five boroughs, the customer's 911 call will be routed to the New York City public safety answering point, and the caller's phone number and address information will automatically appear on the emergency response operator's computer screen. Help can be dispatched to the service address, which can be a VoiceWing customer's home or a temporary address for a VoiceWing customer visiting New York City.

As previously announced, Verizon is also enabling other voice-over- Internet-protocol (VoIP) providers in New York City to offer E911 service to their customers. The New York City solution allows VoIP companies and their vendors to route VoIP customer calls to the NYC public safety answering points using the established E911 system, which currently supports wireline and wireless carriers.

"With the recent and rapid growth of VoIP service, we needed to find a way to integrate VoIP providers into the E911 system in a manner that would reliably serve VoIP end-users and that at the same time would not compromise the safety and reliability of the E911 system for other users," said Michael O'Connor, executive director of Regulatory Affairs for Verizon.

After discussions with VoIP providers and the emergency services community, Verizon has identified a workable solution that can be implemented throughout Verizon's footprint and enables VoIP providers to offer their customers significantly better 911 services than they receive today.

To develop the E911 solution for VoIP customers in New York City, Verizon worked with the city's public safety entities, VoIP providers and their vendors. The E911 service is not currently available to VoiceWing customers in all locations nationwide. VoiceWing will continue to inform customers about where its current non-E911 emergency response service is available and how it works, including the steps customers must take to register their service locations. Verizon recommends that, in any case, customers maintain a backup wireline or wireless phone to reach emergency services.

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