911 tragedy in Calgary reveals perils of VoIP

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.