Round 4: Safety and 911

In the case of an emergency, you should always be able to dial 911, and the emergency operator should know where you are, even if you can't speak. E911 has been a big thorn in the side of VoIP service providers. Because VoIP calls don't route into POTS (plain old telephone service) systems, 911 calls made over a VoIP line usually route to administrative offices, where operators may not be trained to handle emergency situations. With some VoIP services, users can register their locations with their VoIP accounts to provide a correlation between number and location, but the portability of VoIP accounts makes this workaround tenuous at best. In fact, Vonage landed in hot water last year when a customer was unable to call for emergency assistance in time.

Last year, the Federal Communications Commission mandated that VoIP providers come up with a dependable way to route 911 calls, and it set a deadline for that to happen. In December, Vonage claimed that it was fully compliant with the FCC's regulation regarding E911 calls: the company can consistently pass on the caller's location when patching calls through to a local emergency call center. Skype, on the other hand, provides no such service, which means, as far as safety is concerned, don't ditch your landline for Skype.

The winner? Vonage takes this one for providing E911 service to its customers.