By Rachel Cericola, Nov 29, 2005

One of the major gripes about Web-based phone service isn't prices or service drops. It's that fear that someday, you may find yourself in need of 911. Unfortunately, many of those services don't offer such services. After all, we can't even track where spam comes from.

The government decided that safety is more important that Viagra and credit card offers -- and rightfully so -- setting a mandate that Web-based phone service providers needed to get their gear in line and offer E911, or enhanced 911 service.

Few people expected companies to make the short deadline, which gave them a mere 120 days to pull it together. What do you know -- they were right. The deadline was Monday and not everyone is on board yet. Both companies and the FCC aren't naming names, but those providers will most likely be barred from signing new customers. However, they don't have to cut off existing subscribers. Sure, it's hard on the company, but the user is the one that is really going to suffer -- especially if they are in need of emergency medical services.

According to the Associated Press, there are currently about 3.6 million voice over IP (VoIP) users in the U.S. About half of those get service from their cable TV provider -- providers that already provide E911 services.