Hi Enter_Narne
Sometimes here a discussion will go "beyond" what the poster imagined and may even get heated. But here at ETS there are a lot of opinions and a ton of knowledge. So even though you got your answer others may want to chime in or disagree.
That is the great thing; everyone here is generally civil but passionate too.
Welcome to ETS and thanks for the post.
Bill

Safe way- don't do it.

Use a proper rope, otherwise, you are playing Russian Roulette. 550 line (paracord) isn't very strong, it can loose half or more of it capacity due to knots. And gravity is always loaded.

The website in question is out of Canada and can not prove that they have any connection to any part of the US, Canadian or overall NATO operations community, or any military in general. They sell mostly to airsofters and mall ninjas, I'd take their choice to put 550 line with climbing gear with a grain of salt. Their gear isn't all bad, but what they have that is worthwhile is all big name items.

I've gotta admit, if my choices were burning, jumping, or rapelling with paracord, down the cord I would go, hoping for the best. But I sure wouldn't carry it around as my primary escape equipment...

Any thoughts on the movie scenario of using the fire hose in the big spool on the wall? Is it pure useless fiction or would it work in a real emergency?

I suspect that tieing the hose around your waist and jumping, ala Bruce Willis, would be less than a good idea. Going down hand over hand would require one heck of a lot of grip strength. So, like the paracord thing, I would try it only as a last resort...

It seems to me that folks beat up on the original poster a bit too much.

Should anyone repel using Paracord as a hobby or a stunt? Of course not.

But if you find yourself in a situation where you need to get out of a building or down a cliff and all you have is paracord - and your life depends on it - what do you do? Just sit there and reflect on the fact that you should have brought a climbing harness, a descender and 100 meters of line with you? Jump?

I don't have any climbing expertise and I don't know whether it would even be possible to repel with paracord with other proper equipment and with training - but I don't think the OP was being unreasonable by asking about this topic.

550 cord has a breaking strain of 550lb. Proper dynamic climbing rope has a breaking strain of about 2 metric tonnes. They both have about the same elogation. They are both constructed the same way. You could, in a survival situation, use the paracord risers and harness from a parachute to make short descents. Your biggest problem is anchoring the belay.

Other members have pointed out the extreme danger involved. As an experienced climber and as a member of The British Mountain Council I have to say that they are, if anything, understating the risk.

If your faced with a 9/11 Twin Towers then the risk of death is better than the certainty of an agonising death. Otherwise it is simply a clever way to collect a Darwin Award.

A friend of mine has died because of such a supperovercautious attitude of professionals (or may be they just want money for sharing their hard earned knowledge?):

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=516496

A 100ft of paracord and some knowledge of descending with rope basics would save his life. I doubt one would have a real climbing gear on a simple walk in the park with him. The gear with 1000% of insurance built-in is too heavy...

Of course everybody is going to say you shouldn't do it. Yes it's very dangerous, no you shouldn't be doing it regularly, but I will admit I have thought about this also, and I bet a lot of you have also thought about it too. And I think it's very possible to do this. Not rapelling off paracord specifically, but the smallest setup you could rappel off of for a one time emergency use. Fortunately, someone else also thought about it came out with this

http://www.uscav.com/productinfo.aspx?productid=7342&tabID=1287

I don't know the specifics, but during some free time I have looked into setting up something like this just for fun. I know there is a new 5mm cord on the market that is rated at 5000 lbs, so the strength factor is high enough to say that it is definitely possible. I did see another one with a descender specific for that type of cord, it was more of a rectangular shaped piece with holes, and had extra bends for increased friction. Even so, I'd wear gloves, because small cord can cause burns very quickly.