County passes amendment to E911 ordinance
Voice over IP users have to pay 911 feeBy PAMELA BRUST
PARKERSBURG - Wood County commissioners approved an amendment to the county E911 ordinance requiring payment of $1.75 monthly for each customer in the county receiving Voice over Internet Protocol service.
"Some were already paying. This change will mean we can now officially bill VoIP providers the 911 land line fee, the same as an individual who has a land line phone that has switched to VoIP phone," said local E911 Director Randy Lowe.
No objections to the change were raised Monday during a public hearing before the commission.
"The voiceover Internet is kind of a new thing, it's developed overtime, and call quality has been improved. The issue has been the ability for someone on VoIP in Wood County to pick up the phone and dial 911 and be connected to you (the local 911 center) and not get some national system and have to be redirected to you. Has that been addressed yet?" Commissioner Blair Couch asked.
"I think the majority of the companies have addressed that, but as far as knowing or confirming they all can do that, I cannot say that. It is my understanding, when a customer obtains VoIP service, they let the provider know their address for 911 purposes and that provider, when the call goes through, provides that address. If that individual moves, or goes on vacation and didn't notify their provider, the former address will still show up. And you can get VoIP service on a laptop and if you take it on vacation and make a 911 call, it will still bring in your home address," Lowe noted. "We haven't run into any specific issues regarding that, not to say we won't in the future. But the fee will help us improve our technology to better address those issues."
"This isn't increasing the fee, it only adds this particular customer," commission President Rick Modesitt noted.
"This just means VoIP will be paying the same fee as everyone else has to pay, I agree wholeheartedly with that," Couch said.
Lowe said he does not have statistics yet on a number that will be affected by the change, or the amount of revenue that will be generated by the change.
"There are a number of these companies. We have to figure out who is operating in Wood County. Some of the companies have already been billing the 911 fee, but others are getting by without having to pay and still receiving the benefit of the service," Lowe said. "This provision was already in state code. The Legislature came up with allowing the counties to charge the fee, but the Public Service Commission needed to come up with the rules for that to work, and they have done so, and gave county commissions permission to charge the VOIP customers the same fee as their land line fee," Lowe said.
The E911 Dispatch Center, which serves both Wood and Wirt counties, is located on Core Road and is entering its 10th year of service.
