911 tragedy in Calgary reveals perils of VoIP

[detn8r]

TORONTO AND CALGARY — An ambulance was dispatched in response to a 911 call about a toddler in distress, but the Internet phone service said paramedics went to the address it had on file – a home in Mississauga – not the new home in Calgary where the distraught family waited in vain for help.

The child died before an ambulance sent to the right place could get him to hospital Tuesday night.

The family of 18-month-old Elijah Luck spoke out Thursday about their ordeal accessing 911 emergency services with their telephone company Comwave, which uses voice-over-Internet-protocol technology.

Their nightmare highlights the sometimes serious problems that can occur with VoIP providers' emergency services.

“We lost our little baby,” Elijah's aunt, Sylvia Luck, said Thursday. “We can't get him back. But we want to give this awareness to people so this doesn't happen to them.”

VoIP is a relatively new technology that many companies ranging from small upstarts to large cable operators have used to break into the phone market. While it has similar features to phone service from a conventional provider such as Bell Canada or Telus Corp., 911 on VoIP works differently.

The “basic 911” service that many VoIP customers have puts them in touch with a call centre that takes down their address and contacts the closest emergency response centre. That's because subscribers are identified by an IP number rather than geographic location. If calls are disconnected, the VoIP provider gives the customer's last known address, which, in the case of the Luck family, was in Mississauga.

Traditional phone providers' enhanced 911 service sends location information on customers directly to emergency services.

The family's ordeal shows that more work is needed to educate consumers about how VoIP emergency services work, said Mark Goldberg of telecom consulting firm Mark H. Goldberg and Associates Inc.

Read the full story here.

[David]

I've called 911 more than once, and I've always been asked for my location, and while it is true that if you hang up or are disconnected, they will use whatever is on file, or AGPS for a cellular call, I believe it is standard practice in the USA to confirm the address.

Maybe it's different in Canada, or maybe these people were foolish and hung up without verifying the address, but either way, I think it's somewhat unfair to blame VoIP for this. Would you blame the car manufacturer if your car broke after 40,000miles without an oil change, when the manual instructed to do it every 3,000?

[Jeff]

I've had VoIP service for my land line for years. I don't know what the practice is in Canada, but here they make a BIG point of reminding you over and over again that you need to register your CURRENT location for 911 services.

With VoIP, you can take the router and plug it into any broadband connection in the world and it'll let you send and receive phone calls from the same number. I've seen some VoIP providers even advertise this as a feature, which technically it is -- great portability for you phone number, without any fuss. You could even take it on vacation with you!

But as the article points out, if you don't register your current location with the 911 services, there is no way for them to automatically know where you are.

When I was using AT&T Callvantage (their VoIP service) with my fiber optic connection, anytime I reset the router, I'd get a VOICE message on my phone asking me to confirm whether I'd moved the router to a different address. It was virtually foolproof, although if you were in a hurry, you might not bother to correct it.

In my opinion, it's YOUR responsibility in the end. Each of us need to take responsibility for the tools we use, and if they require updating an agency with info, it's our job to do so.

[detn8r]

I seen this on the local news on Friday and thought it would be something interesting to bring up.

I think the idea of VoIP in Canada is still new, and other than Vonage, there isn't much to chose from. I've personally never heard of Comwave, but the whole idea of the news story was to make awareness of it rather than place blame.

It's unfortunate that a life had to be taken before people knew about it especially the life of a baby.