TRAC AND YOU
TRACNotes Readers Respond On Cutting the Cord - In last week’s edition of TRACNotes, we asked readers to write in with their thoughts on cutting the cord with their wireline phone company and going completely wireless. We received a great response to the appeal. Here is what a few of you had to say:
“Using a regular telephone line in your home [when you call] 911, your telephone number and address are displayed at the 911 dispatch center. If you call 911 on your cell phone, the number and your location are given in longitude and latitude which they can break down to a particular address. I believe it is within 50 feet of your location. So, if you are a senior citizen living in a four-story story apartment building, 911 could give you that address, but it cannot give you the floor or room you are in. Is this correct? If it is correct I think that you should have a copper line in your apartment.” – Bill W.
Thanks for the e-mail, Bill. You are correct about 911 dispatchers not knowing your elevation when you call 911 from a cell phone. In areas that are compliant with the FCC’s Phase II E-911 requirements, 911 dispatchers can pinpoint your location to within 50-300 meters on an X-Y axis. However, the technology does not give them your elevation, so a 911 dispatcher who receives a call from someone who is calling on their cell phone from a high-rise building and is unable to speak would not be able to know what floor the caller is located on. For this reason, consumers in high-rise apartment or condominium buildings may want to think strongly about keeping a landline phone with at least the bare minimum of service for 911 calls. In an upcoming issue of TRACNotes, we’ll be exploring E-911 issues in depth to help consumers decide if they are comfortable with the new technology.
“I live in Olympia, Washington, which was near the epicenter of a significant earthquake just over five years ago. The very first utility failure was cellular phone operations. It wasn't overloaded, nor was it just one provider, it just died. Through that entire disaster period, my home PSTN corded phone continued to function. VoIP using Comcast would not have worked, because of the lack of power to run the cable modem. Besides, Comcast service dies whenever there's a power outage, anyway. Finally, while "normal" cellular coverage is OK in urban areas and along most major interstate highways, it gets really marginal elsewhere. So, while I do use cellular service, I'm keeping my landline.” – Bill H.
Bill makes a great point about making sure that you get reliable cellular service in urban versus rural areas. Rural areas tend to have fewer cellular towers and more “dead zones” (areas without coverage) than urban areas. Make sure that your phone works where you need it to (i.e. in every room in your home and around your home). Also, remember that survivability is an issue, especially in areas that are prone to natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornados. While wired phone service can certainly be knocked out by these events, it is still generally true that “old-fashioned” wireline phone service is more robust than wireless phone service.
“It just occurred to me that for homeowners with alarm systems, they cannot cut the cord because the phone line is needed for the alarm.” – Jose F.
Home alarm systems should certainly be a consideration for consumers considering cutting the cord. Many home alarm systems depend on service from the local phone company to call out to a security call center in the event of an emergency. Before you cut the cord, be sure to check with your alarm system provider to see if you can do so without affecting your system.
VOIP WATCH
Vonage and Skype Continue to Lead VoIP Industry – A recently released survey by market research firm Telephia ranked Vonage and Skype as the most popular residential VoIP calling services. Vonage, continues to dominate the market for home VoIP calling, with 1.8 million households signed up for service, representing 47.5% of the 3.9 million U.S. residential VoIP subscribers. Skype’s 463,000 subscribed households was second on the list followed by AT&T CallVantage (218,000 subscribers) and Verizon VoiceWing (196,000), among others. A significant limitation of the study, however, was that it did not include households subscribed to VoIP calling service through their cable company. With cable television and Internet providers increasingly entering the VoIP marketplace, this is a significant omission. According to a June 2005 study by Telephia, most VoIP consumers feel that their VoIP service quality is on par or better than their wireline phone service. Telephia data shows that 67 percent of VoIP early adopter households felt that the voice quality they experienced with the service was equal to traditional landline service, while 19 percent noted that the voice quality was better than wired phone lines. While VoIP usage has certainly been growing fast, the 3.9 million lines of service still represents only 3.6% of 107.1 million U.S. households with wireline telephone service. For more information on the Telephia report, click here.
BUCKS WATCH
New Website Tracks Deceptive Ad Language – Uber-consumer Ed Dworsky has long been a hero to consumers thanks to his work in Massachusetts and his great website at www.consumerworld.org. Dworsky daily scans the headlines for consumer-related articles and posts them on his site, providing an invaluable resource to consumers. Recently, he launched a new site, www.mouseprint.org, which tracks deceptive advertising claims not only by telephone companies, but also by electronics vendors, banks, credit card companies, and other retailers. Check out the nice catch on what Cingular’s “no charge for roaming,” promise really means by clicking here. Consumers looking for the latest info on what the fine print in their newspaper circular really means should be sure to bookmark www.mouseprint.org and check it before heading out to snag that deal that seems “too good to be true.”
INTERESTING LINKS
FCC Main Page: http://www.fcc.gov
FCC Complaint Form - http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/cib/fcc475.cfm
List of State Regulatory Commissions: http://www.naruc.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=15
What do you think? Got a tip you want to share? Nominate your "Scam of the Week" and your "Tip of the Week" - If we select your submission, we'll give you a one-year free membership in TRAC and acknowledge your contribution by name in TRACNotes. Send an e-mail to trac@trac.org to submit your ideas!
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©2006 Telecommunications Research and Action Center. TRAC grants unlimited rights to reproduce TRACNotes or any information contained in it provided attribution is given as follows: "Source: Telecommunications Research and Action Center. http://www.trac.org"
