As a writer, I understand deadlines, and really, I like Ben Charney and his coverage, but when it comes to VoIP I wish he’d just ask the experts, like me or Jeff Pulver, maybe Om Malik or Ted Shelton, even if we don’t get quoted, he’d get more accurate facts than from PR people from the companies.
Today he writes about Verizon’s VoIP play and says Verizon folks suggest a cell phone or another landline as back up for 911 service. Well, as someone who lives in California, if Charney ever called 911, the calls go not to the local police or fire, but to Highway Patrol, which if the call is not theirs to handle, gets transferred to a non-emergency number of the local Police or Fire Department. That only adds to the delay of reaching the desired emergency services force when needed.
Charney’s a better journalist than the missaplication of the facts in the story suggests, and given that Verizon held this story close to the vest to let the New York Times get the early jump in yesterday’s late edition, some PR person played him, and that’s not right.