Results tagged “e911” from IP Communications and Technology

The Calgary Herald printed an article today commenting on the events that may have contributed to the death of a Calgary toddler. The article calls for regulators to mandate that VoIP providers have direct connections to 911 services. I agree.

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!

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 Bell Canada phone service, I am confident, would continue to work even if a power outage lasted for weeks.

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!

Peel, ON 06 Feb 07 – Peel Regional Police, along with the Ontario 9-1-1 Advisory Board are warning consumers who are considering buying or already purchased Internet-based telephone service to be aware of certain technical 9-1-1 limitations.

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a telephone service that connects calls to the internet as a means of communicating with other phones. The VoIP system is becoming increasingly popular because it is cheaper to rent and make long distance calls. The traditional 9-1-1 system, which is based on the use of landlines, provides that the emergency call will go to the correct 9-1-1 Centre and provide automatic address and telephone information. This is not guaranteed with the VoIP system.

Here are some of the limitations of VoIP services during an emergency:

• VoIP has two types of telephone services: Nomadic (no fixed address) and Non-nomadic (having a fixed address linked to the telephone and the internet connection).
• Nomadic phones and some fixed phones (depending on your provider) calling 9-1-1 must connect first to a third party call centre and that call centre must then re-direct it to the appropriate 9-1-1 centre.
• The VoIP service provider’s call centre may be sending your emergency call to a non-emergency telephone number, which will result in delays and could have serious consequences.
• If the caller is unable to speak or the call is disconnected, the call centre may not be able to determine the address of the emergency.
• If your service provides enhanced 9-1-1, delivering location information to the 9-1-1 centre, it will be the information that you registered with your VoIP service provider. The routing to the appropriate 9-1-1 centre is also based on the information you provided as part of your registration process. Please ensure it is correct and update it when your locations change.
• When using some VoIP services automatic location information is not provided to the 9-1-1 centre.
• 9-1-1 Service is not available if your Internet connection is down.
• 9-1-1 Service is not available if there is a power failure.

Consumers are strongly urged to consider these facts and ask the following questions before subscribing to a VoIP service:

Will I be able to dial 9-1-1?

Do you provide enhanced 9-1-1? (phone number and address)

Will my 9-1-1 calls go directly to the local 9-1-1 centre?

Will my address information be presented to the 9-1-1 centre?

Stumble It!