[asterisk-biz] VoIP 9-1-1 failure - don't let it happen to you

[Trevor Peirce]

sales department wrote:
> What happened to the person is tragic.  More importantly it created yet
> another black eye on our industry by that provider not providing 911
> services.  I would not even be surprised to see some sort of criminal
> charges against that provider.
>   
Thank you. It's good to see that my personal thoughts are mirrored by at 
least a few of you that have replied. When a tragedies like this 
continue to happen it looks bad for us all and makes it that much harder 
for us to keep and find new business. This is why it's crucial that even 
the smallest of providers ensure they do 9-1-1 properly.

As a direct result of recent news, I've had to explain to my customers 
how their 9-1-1 works and explain the steps taken that ensure they will 
receive help when they need it. However, as long as other VoIP providers 
keep having problems with emergency calls, I, you, and everyone else 
will have to convince our customers that *we* aren't going to drop the 
ball when it comes to connecting emergency calls.

As far as this particular incident, I've seen reports that the 9-1-1 
call was answered and the caller was told that an ambulance was 
dispatched, although to an old address. The most recent details I've 
seen are at http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/05/02/crtc-voip.html

My guess is the provider was handling 9-1-1 in-house without properly 
trained call takers. I've heard a few 9-1-1 calls and the first thing in 
every single one of them was confirmation of the current address (a CRTC 
requirement, in fact) which would have prevented this error. In the 
calls I've heard the Ambulance Service remains on the line with the 
caller until paramedics arrive to make sure they can find the residence.

With that, I am not going to reply to this thread any more. It seems my 
posts upset too many readers who do not share my views on highlighting 
failures to underscore the importance of doing things right or educating 
smaller providers about options that they can afford to minimize their 
risk of harming their customers.

Best regards,
Trevor Peirce