Emergency services go to wrong address from call made over VoIP

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nate

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#21663 3-May-2008 16:23

CALGARY — As the frantic family of a dying toddler waited in vain for help at their north Calgary home Tuesday night, paramedics were rushing to an address three provinces away in the southern Ontario city of Mississauga.

The tragic death of 18-month-old Elijah Luck demonstrates the critical differences between the 911 services of traditional land-lines and phone companies that now use voice over Internet technology.

Read the article here.

I have a really bad feeling this won't be the last time.

cokemaster

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#128220 3-May-2008 16:44

Probably a timely reminder for those to keep their contact details for their vfx connection.

I know its really easy to move around between cities, but when you really, really need it... It simply must work.

Particularly with people using it as a complete landline replacement.

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idkpmiller

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#130304 12-May-2008 17:33

It is indeed sad when anyone dies when it could have been prevented.

When it comes to Emergency Services I believe the first IA for the call center is to ask your location, this is even more important when VoIP is on the increase. This would lead to only a very small number of times when it would come down to the caller not being able to specify where they were for whatever reason. This is the time where the location information that is stored for the callers E.164 number should be considered as there is no other choice.

There is another issue here (which is really relevant to NZ!) as VoIp increases the dependancy on power being available becomes a pre-requisite for making emergency calls. Not paying your phone bill or a failure for the power company to provide power will cost lives and that includes industrial action as well as faults to the power lines and infrastructure.