Vonage gets some 911 love from Qwest

Vonage took some heat over its handling of 911 calls last month. At the heart of the issue is that the telcos have a strong incentive to prevent access to their networks to competitors in the VoIP space such as Vonage. However, Vonage has just had some success convincing at least Qwest Communications that providing proper 911 service might be a public safety issue worth setting aside economic differences over. The agreement allows 911 calls from Vonage customers to route through Qwest's emergency call infrastructure in 14 states, as opposed to taking the, uh, scenic route they have to take currently. This agreement with the smallest of the Bells may encourage the other three heavies: Verizon Communications, SBS Communications and BellSouth, to open their 911 networks to Vonage and other VoIP providers as well — but we won't be terribly surprised if they continue to move glacially slowly on the whole issue.