I have been thinking about whether or not to write the post ever since I heard the tragic news that a toddler had died due to his parents ill-advised or lack of regard for the proper administration of a VoIP line. After some recent side chatter amongst friends, I felt it necessary to voice my feelings on this.
First off, I feel for the family. The death of a toddler has to be one of the worst things a family can go through.
But on the other hand, VoIP is not to blame here. Nor is the service provider. At the core, it is the parents of the toddler. As Andy Abramson writes, “The unfortunate death of a toddler in Canada is making VoIP out to be the culprit when in reality technology kills the same way as a gun. It comes down to people.”
Yes VoIP service providers need to do a better job of educating consumers that when you move locations, you need to update your location via your account management portal (or leverage heartbeat technology), but at the core, it comes to down to user, the parents, to make sure that they are educated as to the positives and negatives of VoIP.
Think about this. If a toddler dies as a result of drowning in a pool (unsupervised, feel in, etc), does it make pools evil? Is the pool to blame? Is the company that installed the pool to blame for the death? Pools come with warning stickers (as does VoIP service) for a reason - bad things could happen if the pool is not properly utilized. If you choose to ignore those warnings or do not fully intend to abide by them, then if the worst occurs, you have no one to blame but yourself.
I know I come across as insensitive here, but the reality is that with anything in life, at the end of the day, you are responsible for the outcomes, not technology or the companies providing it.
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11 responses so far ↓
Khyle // May 2, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Respectfully disagree here. One of the main reasons I didn’t want to use VOIP for my residential purposes is because of the 911 factor.
Now, it’s easy to say that it’s the people’s fault for not being on top of the situation. However, VOIP will not make it to the next level if that is the attitude providers take.
Phone service is not at all like a pool. A pool is a choice. Phone service is really not. Being able to communicate is much more essential than swimming in a pool.
It’s also not like a gun either. You pick up a gun, and you know what it does. A phone isn’t designed to kill people.
911 service has to be foolproof. Until it is, I don’t see how it can take hold of the residential market.
Garrett Smith // May 2, 2008 at 2:58 pm
@Khyle:
There are some holes in your argument.
First, as a consumer, you DO have a choice as to the phone service you use.
1. Copper
2. Cellular
3. VoIP
Within those groups, there are a myriad of choices in terms of providers.
No one told this family they MUST have VoIP, they decided.
Secondly, guns were originally created for hunting food sources…humans made the gun a weapon to kill other humans.
However, i do agree that until 911 is sorted out, VoIP will not be “the” residential phone service choice.
Khyle // May 2, 2008 at 3:33 pm
I didn’t mean to imply that they didn’t have a choice. That’s besides the point. I was simply saying that for those who choose VOIP, this is a major issue. One that shouldn’t have to rely on paperwork. It’s too important.
Garrett Smith // May 2, 2008 at 7:56 pm
@khyle I agree that it is a major hurdle and concern, but ultimately it something that will continue to be a “fine print” item until a universal solution is available.
Jon Arnold // May 5, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Good debate here, and I’m in your court. As terrible as this, for life and death situations, I’d like to think people would do more than just call 911. It’s a very extreme case, and trying to place all the blame with the technology and painting all of VoIP with this brush is a pretty narrow way to look at things - but it’s also the best way to spin the story in the media I’m afraid.
Bo Gowan // May 5, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Maybe I’m being a little simplistic, but I assume it wouldn’t be rocket science to allow the VoIP client on the end user PC to periodically ping the network to try to determine if the user’s location has changed, and if it has changed consistently for a period of time (let’s say a week) to have a warning message alert the user that the should change their stated address if they have moved.
I too have held off on going VoIP in part due to e911 concerns.
A thought - whoever can figure out making VoIP as brainless as traditional phone service but at a cheaper price has a huge market at their feet.
Garrett Smith // May 6, 2008 at 9:50 am
@ Jon You are right, this is a lot of media spin here, however, the service provider and the family put the technology in the spot.
Garrett Smith // May 6, 2008 at 9:56 am
@ Bo You are right it is not too hard to do that, however, I am not sure about the cost to the service provider (who is operating at thin margins given the price point they are offering) so it could quite possibly be an issue of finances…unfortunate, but a business reality.
I use VoIP at home, however, I also have an “outbound only” POTS line that is billed at $9.99 per month and $.10 per minute connected to my SPA-3102.
I also have my SPA-3102 connected to a 2 hour battery back-up in case power goes out.
The net is that I am still saving about $35 per month on my phone bill and given that the ATA cost me $90 and the UPS was $100, I starting seeing an ROI after the first 5 months of switching.
If more consumer looked at the switch like a business did (ROI) rather than “go-cheap” with a complete tear out and minimal upfront hardware costs, events like this would not happen.
The net of this is that both parties (family, SP) are to blame, however, the technology is not.
Tony // May 6, 2008 at 11:48 am
I’ve discouraged some folks from going VoIP because they just don’t get it — they want to stop their POTS service and think that they’ll automatically talking with their local 911 center from any phone anywhere, mobile or VoIP! It’s not like they’re stupid — there’s plenty of disclaimers and cautions out there about it but, still, sometimes it just doesn’t click. As a consultant, it’s my responsibility to make sure they understand what they’re getting and many folks just can’t seem to understand the whole 911 issue. Until they get it I recommend they either bypass VoIP or keep POTS but don’t use it.
Me? I’m with you, Garrett, I’ve still got a POTS line but do 99% of my calling through my SPA-3102. It’s hooked up to the UPS for my cable modem/routers/switches and will ride for hours without external power. With Voicepulse I’ve seen my costs drop dramatically. I’m saving over my Vonage line, let alone my POTS service. All with great quality.
Keith Grambling // May 18, 2008 at 2:57 am
Bo, you have a huge point. If some company can once and for all solve the e911 issue, they will make a fourtune. Till then VOIP is a really a tool for businesses to save money, not a realistic residential service for the masses. Even still the businesses have to rely on consultants for thier Voip needs, which ultimately costs money.
Second Garrett, your remarks are way insensitive for many reasons.
One, sombody died here. Do you really think that if the parents knew that when they signed up for VOIP, thier 911 calls would go to some out of state call center answered by a $10.00/hour customer service reps instead of the highly trained, emergency response staff that thier tax dollars are already paying for? Are the monthly savings even worth that trade off?
Second, do you really expect the general public to be able to handle this e911 concept? Millions in America/Canada barley grasp computers and the internet among other things like driving and you now expect them to understand the complex differneces between pots lines and sip trunks and why thier 911 calls may be unpredictable?
We setup 911 in the 1980’s for this exact reason. Emergency response time is most critial, and having dirrerent ways to call for Police/Ambulance/Fire help in every single part of the country is complicated and cost lives. We trained People for the last 25 years, “JUST DIAL 911″ and now we have to tell them “Well if you dial 911 it might get you the help you need”. Then we somone dies all they get told is “Hey, you saw the sticker on the box, not our problem.”
Garrett, when you blamed the parents, what you were really admitting to is that VOIP is not in the same class as Land Line and Cellular phone services.
The pool argument had some value, but remember if somone is drowning in a pool, when 911 is called you know its going through if its on a land line.
Garrett Smith // May 18, 2008 at 9:34 pm
@keith
Sometimes the truth hurts. The decision to sacrifice certain service features and functionalities for a lower cost is in the hands of the consumer.
When I worked for T-Mobile, we had the worse cellular coverage in the US. People still bought our service though. Why? They were willing to sacrifice coverage area for a better price. If someone died because there was no cellular coverage area so a call could not be placed, is it the carriers fault? People make the decision to forgo certain things for a better price.
In response to your thoughts about VoIP being better or worse, that was never my point. My point was that it was not the technology’s fault that the baby died.
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