Ms. Buyer is a regular columnist for the THE BULLETIN of the Bar Association of Erie County and is a contributor to No Jitter. Previously, she has written numerous commentaries on telecommunications law for other legal and telecommunications publications including, among others, The Daily Record, Communications Convergence and Computer Telephony. Her articles cover a broad range of topics highlighting current telecommunications issues including federal and state telecommunications policy, litigation, wireless technologies, spectrum policy, FCC initiatives, and industry consolidation. Martha Buyer has also contributed to the ABA Journal Report.
When There's No Dial Tone, There's No Kari's Law Compliance
Kari's Law has three core pillars – and facilities in the U.S. are still failing to meet one or all of these requirements.
Recently, I had dinner with a friend who travels a great deal for his job as an academic physician. He mentioned to me that when he gets to a hotel, he calls the front desk to set up a backup wakeup call in case his phone alarm fails to wake him at the right time. Within the past few trips, any time he's tried to accomplish this menial task, he's found that while there is a phone in his room, there is no dial tone when he picks up the receiver. It doesn't matter why there's no dial tone – any phone without a dial tone is a clear violation of Kari’s Law.
Texting While Driving Is Not Just a Personal Problem
The combination of mobile communication and the expectation of instant availability can often lead to tragedy – and costly consequences if accidents happen on company time with company resources. Communication technology professionals have the opportunity to reduce these risks.
We’ve all become incredibly accustomed to seeing people texting and driving (or otherwise using mobile devices in unsafe ways ourselves), but ubiquity is not synonymous with risk reduction.
When Contact Centers Fail
A terrible customer service experience with POTS leads our correspondent to ask – how can contact centers rise to meet the failures of the businesses they support? Right up front, let me say that I understand why contact centers exist. But I dislike them intensely. In fact, to me, contact centers, although often providing an acceptable level of service at a higher level of efficiency than traditional customer service, occasionally fail. And when they do, they fail miserably. I am living with the learned experience of what happens when high-touch customer service is replaced by systems meant to optimize profits while minimizing customer experience. I thought I knew, as a seasoned industry professional, how to resolve these problems. Clearly, I was wrong.
Hybrid Workforce Technology Is Not Immune from e911 Regulations
Here's why any communications technology professional should attend the Enterprise Connect 2023 panel "Managing e911 for the Hybrid Workforce"
The world of 911 calls, the underlying infrastructure that makes them possible, and the regulations that place new requirements on that infrastructure can all be daunting to those who aren’t already immersed in these issues. But the Enterprise Connect 2023 panel "Managing e911 for the Hybrid Workforce" is an informative and entertaining introduction that will boost your understanding of the technological and legal issues hybrid that workplaces must master, and give you a roadmap for action. And if history is any indication, the speakers will be so passionate and animated that they’ll start the kind of conversation that spills out onto the show floors and post-panel parties.

