Discussions centered primarily around three issues: establishing a model law for qualifying central station employees in all states; notifying customers to check their alarm systems if they install voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) telephone systems; and extending the deadline at which cellular phone carriers will stop being required to provide analog mobile phone service (AMPS) in favor of digital methods of transmission. These carriers have been converting their networks to digital for years and will be allowed after that “sunset date†to use the frequencies previously occupied for AMPS transmissions for digital cell phones.
Approximately 40 representatives, senators and their staff members met with the industry representatives. Two meetings with the entire group were held in a hotel reception room and another in a club on Capitol Hill. Then the industry members met with their individual representatives and senators.