VOIP and 911
The CBC has a story today about the problems you can run into if you make a 911 call using a VOIP phone.
Some users of voice-over-internet protocol (VOiP) telephone services — which use a high-speed internet connection to place calls instead of a traditional telephone network — could encounter dangerous delays when making 911 calls.
With a regular phone network, 911 calls go directly to the right 911 dispatch centre. Furthermore, each call provides automatic address and telephone number information to make certain help will find callers, even if they are not able to speak.
These 911 features aren’t available with internet telephone services.
With internet phones, 911 calls go first to a third-party call centre operator, before being transferred to dispatchers in their location based on information users provide when they sign up for the services. That means callers may be sent to the wrong dispatcher if their personal information has not been updated with the internet service provider.
As well, if a caller is unable to speak, or if the call is disconnected, the operator may not have automatic location information to give to 911 dispatchers.
This is a very real problem, and one that is only going to get worse as people increasingly switch to VOIP networks, many of which, like Skype, do not provide any 911 functionality. The simplest answer of course is to always have at least a basic cell phone plan and use that for 911. Even that however is going to start posing problems in the not too distant future as wi-fi network grow out and multi-mode cell phones start coming to use. Phones that automatically switch from cellular to wi-fi, and thus VOIP, when a wi-fi network is available.
