Here is a great overview of what is happening in the world of VoIP and 911: Intrado and TCI to Address 911. I have written about how 911 over VoIP will eventually be much better that 911 over the PSTN. This article echoes my sentiments.

The problem is that Texas and perhaps other states are pushing for VoIP to be as good as the PSTN’s 911 service, today! This isn’t reality.

Some people will tell you that the incumbents haven’t made it easy for VoIP providers to have access to PSAPs and thus allowing their VoIP service to be on par with the PSTN. The flipside to this argument is that there was a day when 911 didn’t exist in this country and people used to have the number of the local police department and fire department taped to their telephones.

This latter argument which is somewhat logical and reasonable is not good enough as 911 is something we have come to expect as consumers and reeducating the market is not an option.

I don’t see this issue going away quickly because VoIP is mobile by nature and that means there will always be a concern about locating the caller. That is until GPS receivers get embedded in virtually all electronic devices.