As two gunmen forced their way into her Houston home Feb. 2, Sosamma John yelled to her daughter, Joyce, to call the police. Joyce ran upstairs, grabbed the phone and dialed 911.
Instead of getting a police dispatcher, the frantic teen got a recording telling her that 911 wasn't available from the family's phone.
Joyce escaped the house to call from a neighbor's -- but not before the gunmen had shot her parents and fled.
On Tuesday, the state of Texas sued Vonage Holdings Corp., the nation's largest Internet-based phone service provider, for allegedly failing to make clear that 911 calls weren't included in a basic subscription.
The lawsuit highlights a challenge for the exploding business of Internet-based telephone service: Consumers attracted by the cheap rates may be giving up full access to emergency operators.
It also shows Internet phone companies and federal regulators, who are taking a hands-off approach to so-called voice over Internet protocol service, that state authorities are willing to step in with consumer-protection laws at their disposal.
Sosamma and Peter John survived last month's attack. Had their daughter reached police on the first call, the gunmen would have been caught, said Texas Atty. Gen. Greg Abbott.
"Lives were in jeopardy and almost lost because these people had signed up for telephone service through Vonage and had no idea of their inability to access 911," said Abbott, who filed the suit.
Vonage believes that it provides more than adequate information and follow-up notices to make sure customers take the extra steps necessary to activate their 911 calling features, said company spokeswoman Brooke Schulz. She said the company would work with Abbott's office to settle the case.
Only a small fraction of the nation uses VOIP service -- about 1 million, compared with about 135 million conventional phone lines. But that share is growing rapidly; consulting firm Yankee Group estimates that the number of broadband phone customers will nearly triple in the coming year and exceed 17 million by 2008.
By sending voices over high-speed Internet connections as packets of information, like e-mail, broadband phone subscriptions can be far cheaper than conventional service. Many offer advanced features and do not require a computer to work.
But technological advances are happening so fast, Abbott said, that consumers aren't always aware of the shortcomings. They often must pore over small type and wrestle with complex technology just to get basic phone service, he said.
