VoIP: May 2008 Archives
The Calgary Herald printed an article today commenting on
the events that may have contributed to the death of a
As I have pointed out many times here previously, having 911
calls redirected to call centre has the potential of compromising the efficacy
of the response. This is especially true when one considers that the person
accepting the call almost certainly does not have the experience and training
of a 911 operator.
The article points out that Canadian VoIP service providers opposed
regulations that would have forced them to have direct connections to 911 call
centres. I’m not convinced that’s entirely correct. If memory serves me
(someone please correct me if I’m wrong), 911 centres themselves were opposed to
direct connections from VoIP providers that could not guarantee that the
provided address of the 911 caller was accurate.
Also, while I agree that VoIP based 911 calls should go
directly to a 911 dispatch centre, it may not have made any difference in this
case. Direct connection or not, the address in the database was wrong. Perhaps
a 911 operator would have handled the situation better, perhaps not.
The fact is that with nomadic VoIP services, there is no
fool proof way (that I know of) of ensuring that the location information
associated with a 911 call will always be correct. I’ve given this subject a
lot of thought over the years because I have always been troubled by the
potential consequences. There are ways of addressing the problem, at least
partly, but none of them are perfect or for that matter, practical.
What follows are various methods of associating a caller
with a location:
Physical Connection
The telephony device is bound to a physical location. That’s
the situation with a POTS line; the regular telephone service from your
telephone company. The telephone is connected to a pair of wires which the
telephone company can accurately associate with an address and the address
never changes. In some cases a VoIP provider can use the same method but only
if they control the entire infrastructure associated with the service which is
the case with most cable companies.
Heartbeat
A VoIP provider can monitor the end device and detect a
possible change in location. If the device goes out of service and then comes
back into service with a different IP address, then it may indicate that the
device has been moved. The key word is “may” since there are many situations
where this could occur even if the device had not been moved. Still, the
service provider could configure the service so that under this circumstance, the
telephony user must confirm their address before the service is restored. There
are many problems with this approach including the scenario where a caller
connects a previously disconnected device and attempts to make a 911 call.
Insisting that the caller first confirm the address before the telephony
service is restored is not sensible in this circumstance!
Global Positioning
Systems
Imbed GPS receivers in the telephony devices. Besides the
fact that other components would be required to associate the GPS coordinates
with physical addresses this approach is not practical for at least two
reasons. The first is the cost associated with the GPS receivers. One can argue
that cost should not be a factor when it comes to public safety but the fact
remains that VoIP services will not exist if the economics don’t make sense.
The second problem with this approach is that GPS receivers simply don’t work
very well indoors. In fact in many situations they will be completely non
functional.
Conclusion
The death of this child is tragic. The fact that a
shortcoming of VoIP service may have played a role is also very troubling. It’s
not the first event of its kind and sadly, it likely won’t be the last.
However, the answer is not to shut down VoIP service providers - although I
suspect the Telcos would be in favour of that option!
I’m sure a practical solution will eventually emerge. In the meantime if you are VoIP customer ensure that the address information on file with your provider is accurate. Do it now!
Note:The 911 challenges discussed above relate to nomadic and residential VoIP or Internet Telephony services. When it comes to IP Telephony services for business, all of the E911 concerns can, and are routinely addressed satisfactorily.
Stumble It!
The Calgary Herald is reporting that a toddler has died, and that delays in the response to a 911 call (initially made using a VoIP service) may have been a contributing factor in the child’s death. The Herald is reporting that 40 minutes passed from the time the original call was placed until emergency crews arrived. A 911 call was later placed from a neighbour’s home and emergency crews arrived within six minutes of that call.
My thoughts and condolences go out to the child’s family. What a tragic and sad event!
I will attempt to follow the story as investigators work to discover what may have gone wrong in the process. In the meantime I will not speculate on the circumstances surrounding this tragedy but I would like to make a few comments on residential VoIP based services in general.
What follows in an excerpt from an article I wrote previously on the risks associated with residential VoIP services:
Emergencies
Yes, it’s true that most VoIP
providers have E911 capabilities. However, in many instances, unlike your POTS
(Plain Old Telephone Service) service, your call does not terminate directly in
the E911 PSAP. Instead, it is directed to a call centre first, which in my
view, could potentially compromise the efficacy of the response. In addition,
as others have pointed out, unless your ATA has, or is plugged into, a backup
power supply, your VoIP service will be non-functional in a power outage. Even,
with ATA backup power, a power interruption might bring down the network
through which your VoIP service is delivered. Sure, most cable companies do
have UPS to protect their trunk and distribution amplifiers but the capacity
may be very limited which means that an extended and widespread outage will
almost certainly result in your VoIP service going down. In addition, the
reliability of the backup power is dependent on diligent maintenance, which is
a non-trivial and expensive challenge. My
In addition to the potential risks in the above excerpt, with many Internet Telephony Services, it is essential that the customer completes an address form so that the correct relationship between the assigned telephone number and the customer’s address is on record at the service provider. It should also be pointed out that with many free Internet Telephony services, that there is no mechanism for associating the origin of a 911 call with an address.
Since writing the article on the risks of residential VoIP services, I have discontinued my POTS line. However, I have done so with a full understanding of the risks.
In my view, residential VoIP providers do not provide sufficient information to consumers regarding the risks associated with depending on a VoIP service as a primary line. In fact, many of the VoIP providers promote the service in a way that would lead consumers to believe that when it comes to service reliability and E911, that their services is equivalent to POTS, which they are not.
Whether you are currently a VoIP subscriber or are considering discontinuing your POTS line and replacing it with a VoIP service, I urge you to read my article on the potential risks before you make your decision
If you need help to assess the risks, please leave a comment here and I will do my best to provide you with factual information.
Stumble It!
