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

Tue May 6 11:06:55 CDT 2008

On Tue, 2008-05-06 at 05:57 -0400, SIP wrote:

> The comments in that article, which, by the way, is not reachable at the 
> URL you provided (you left off an l :
> http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2008/05/05/rethinking-voip.html) 
> show that people really still have no grasp on the technology used for 
> VoIP or the difficulties in providing E911 service.
> 
> Some of the questions/suggestions given were things like: 
> 
> -Why can't we put GPS into VoIP phones like we do in cell phones? 
> - Be like AT&T and the minute a phone changes locations (changes IPs), 
> lock it out completely until the customer provides current location 
> information or verifies he's at the old location.
> 
> Neither of which are terribly effective. GPS is rather unreliable 
> indoors, and if you're truly on the move, having your phone stop working 
> every time you switch APs until you reconfirm your location (which you 
> may not even know) is, perhaps, a worthless solution.
> 
> The overall problem lies in the way people view VoIP as a replacement 
> for telephones. Skype is VoIP, but its dependence on the computer puts 
> it into a class of VoIP services such as those tied with other IM 
> services that people simply don't EXPECT to behave like a phone. 
> However, when you have a service which CAN be used with something like a 
> phone, people then expect it to behave just like a phone in all ways. 
> They've tied their awareness to a familiar paradigm, and they're unable 
> to expand beyond that.
> 
> It's really fascinating from the standpoint of psychology.
> 
> When WiMax comes into play in a larger scale (assuming it ever becomes 
> cost-effective), it will open up yet further avenues of misconception. 
> Will my new WiMax-enabled GoogleTalk Communicator or AIM Handset have 
> E911? I mean... it LOOKS like a phone, right? So it should have E911. Of 
> course, if I'm outdoors, they might have GPS built in, but if I'm 
> downstairs in the mall, with wifi repeaters all around to keep the 
> signal strong, and just roaming from store to store, how would anyone 
> ever know where to find me?
> 
> These are basic problems for which NO one has a solution. As many 
> E911-capable VoIP services as there are these days, the simple fact 
> remains that truly nomadic VoIP does not have the infrastructure yet to 
> be able to handle E911. And the more flexible we make it, the less 
> chance we will ever solve that problem without massive redesigns of the 
> way IP is routed and handled.
> 
> 
> 
> Trevor Peirce wrote:
> > Drew Gibson wrote:
> >   
> >> This call was one of the marginal cases and this is the question I was 
> >> trying to ask. As with most emergencies, this situation was created by 
> >> a combination of failures.
> >>
> >> Rightly or wrongly the current situation is that...
> >>
> >> 1. The customer expects the Telco to take care of 911 entirely, as 
> >> they always have in the past.
> >>     
> > Indeed.  The VoIP provider should take a more proactive role to ensure 
> > the customer understands that 911 address != billing address.  First, 
> > the regulations require periodic reminders be sent to the customer to 
> > keep their address current.  Second, it would be good practice for all 
> > providers to offer to update 911 address at the same time when they are 
> > processing a billing address update.
> >   
> >> 2. The VoIP provider expects the customer to update their 911 address, 
> >> as the provider cannot strictly control location (except the cable 
> >> providers such as Shaw Cable, through which the ambulance was 
> >> correctly dispatched)
> >>     
> > As above.  Cable companies have a benefit that they attach their device 
> > to your house so it cannot be moved without them coming out and doing it 
> > for you.  Thus, they are allowed to route directly to a PSAP and use 
> > E911.  VoIP is not allowed to do this per CRTC regulations.
> >   
> >> I'll leave it to the lawyers to apportion blame but, in the mean time, 
> >> how is this disconnect being addressed by VoIP and 911 service providers?
> >>     
> > In my opinion the address not being updated is a very small factor of 
> > the failure at hand.  The bigger failure is the lack of communication to 
> > verify the caller's address or let them speak to the PSAP directly.  If 
> > the caller did speak to the PSAP, or if the caller told the person on 
> > the phone that the old address was correct, then the point of failure 
> > shifts from the VoIP provider/911 termination partner to the caller.  
> > However, it is my understanding that the address was not verified with 
> > the caller and that the caller never spoke to the PSAP, and that is why 
> > this happened.
> >
> > The current implemented system in Canada has room for improvement, but 
> > the processes required by law does work fine and requires several stages 
> > that would have prevented this failure if they had been followed by all 
> > involved parties.  It will be interesting to find out the details of 
> > what exactly went wrong.
> >
> > Because of this failure, here is today's article recommending against 
> > VoIP services: 
> > http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2008/05/05/rethinking-voip.htm
> >

I still strongly believe is not a voip only responsibility
may be I am being naive here,
but if not provided by the registrar
why don't enforce all VoIP devices to have to configure by firmware a
fail-over 911 routing,
(with the due 911 counterpart from 911 services)
all will be fixed to something like sip:911 at 911.gov.us (or ca)
and you get to enter some data like location,
doable things @ 911:
some IP mapping when receiving
yearly auto call to confirm location field
test site to test, confirm location, and enable service (like
sip:911 at test.911.gov.us)
ask where are you? if voip call
(happens with cells too, some calls appear as originating from different
cities)

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