FCC Extends Internet Phone Cutoff Deadline

Federal regulators extended a disconnection deadline that could have left tens of thousands of people without their Internet phone service next week.

The Federal Communications Commission said it would delay a Monday deadline for providers of Internet-based phone calls to get acknowledgments from their customers that they understood the problems they might encounter when dialing 911 in an emergency.

Providers of the phone service, known as voice over Internet protocol, or VOIP, had been told by the FCC that they should disconnect service by Tuesday to people who had not responded.

But in Friday’s notice, the agency said the deadline would be extended to Sept. 28.