MartyT
join:2004-09-03
Georgetown, SC
| VOIP E911, good news amid the bad
You always hear about the bad side of E911 and VOIP service. The situation recently where someone moved to a new home in Canada and a 911 call wound up sending an ambulance to the subscriber's earlier address is in the news. The kid, who already had life threatening health issues, died. That's a shame, and I'd like to know the real reason for the problem.
How about the good news? I deal with a VOIP provider that has E911 provided thru Intrado - Vitelity. Yesterday, three E911 calls were made on two lines I monitor that are provided by them. All went through fine, and there were no issues.
As a matter of fact, I received automatically generated emails advising me of each call. Now that is reassuring.
Anyone else care to share their VOIP E911 success stories? |
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kris926
join:2003-04-13
Uniontown, OH
| After reading that story I thought I better check mine. I'm using Quantumvoice. I called the 911 center and asked if it was OK to do a test first. When I called 911 it rang to the right place and the operator had all the correct info. Hope that's the last 911 call I have to make for a long time.  |
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MartyT
join:2004-09-03
Georgetown, SC
| Excellent. I would hope the press would try to emphasize the fact that E911 works just fine with VOIP, if the right address has been provided by the customer or the provider. With Vitelity, you are responsible for providing your own real physical address. I do encourage testing, after calling the E911 administrator and getting the ok to do a test call. |
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Fisamo
Premium
join:2004-02-20
Apex, NC
 ·AT&T CallVantage
| said by MartyT  :Excellent. I would hope the press would try to emphasize the fact that E911 works just fine with VOIP, if the right address has been provided by the customer or the provider. With Vitelity, you are responsible for providing your own real physical address. I do encourage testing, after calling the E911 administrator and getting the ok to do a test call. If the press were more interested in accuracy than in scary headlines, you might have a chance to see that happen. I've tested VoIP E911 calls (with permission from my local PSAP, of course) with ATTCV, ViaTalk, and Voipo (beta test line--they're not public yet), and all calls went through just fine. They had correct name and address info, as well.
If you think about it, with the number of active VoIP lines that are primary phone lines in US homes today, there have to be quite a few '911 success stories' that are never reported. After all, if it works as designed, is it news?  (The is directed at the one-sided press, not you, MartyT .) |
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B
Premium,MVM
join:2000-10-28
| I've had to call a few (2 or 3) times under Sunrocket and Viatalk, and it's worked okay. I'm sure it does for most.
I did notice that my initial Viatalk E-911 settings were blank and I had to fill them in manually -- this worried me on behalf of other people, but it was during the SR exodus so I let it slide. I hope they're pre-filled these days for new accounts.
I recall one time we accidentally called and hung up. No one ever came by or called back. I'm almost certain that was due to sloth on the part of the "PSAP" personnel, not any failing of my VoIP provider. (No caller-ID block either, so even without E-911 they should have called back.)
By the way, despite the general advice to do it, as far as I know there's STILL no reliably uniform and safe way to schedule a test E-911 call.
-- B
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In a realm outside causality and function |
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MartyT
join:2004-09-03
Georgetown, SC
| reply to MartyT
To arrange a test, look up the number for the 911 administrative number in the phone book. Ask to speak to the 911 administrator and advise him/her that you want to test a VOIP 911 call. They will understand and if the call takers are not busy, will let you go ahead and make the call immediately. Never have been told not to try it right away.
I've followed this all the time and it works. |
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druber
join:2000-04-11
Marlborough, MA | Yup. |
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B
Premium,MVM
join:2000-10-28
| reply to MartyT
said by MartyT :To arrange a test, look up the number for the 911 administrative number in the phone book. Ask to speak to the 911 administrator and advise him/her that you want to test a VOIP 911 call. They will understand and if the call takers are not busy, will let you go ahead and make the call immediately. Never have been told not to try it right away. I see no such office or administrator title in any of the localities with which I'm familiar. As I said, there's no reliably uniform and safe way to do this.
-- B
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In a realm outside causality and function |
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burris
Premium
join:2000-08-22
Miami, FL
·VOIPo
 ·AT&T Southeast
·ViaTalk
 ·Comcast
| said by B :said by MartyT :To arrange a test, look up the number for the 911 administrative number in the phone book. Ask to speak to the 911 administrator and advise him/her that you want to test a VOIP 911 call. They will understand and if the call takers are not busy, will let you go ahead and make the call immediately. Never have been told not to try it right away. I see no such office or administrator title in any of the localities with which I'm familiar. As I said, there's no reliably uniform and safe way to do this. -- B Over the years, I've tested my 911 a number of times. I simply called my local Police Dept. and asked if it was ok to test, and was advised that there was no problem. |
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MartyT
join:2004-09-03
Georgetown, SC | reply to B
In your case I would call the local law enforcement or emergency services professionals, such as the local chief of police or sheriff's office. They can properly direct you to the contact people you need for 911. |
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B
Premium,MVM
join:2000-10-28
| I do really appreciate the advice, but you folks are proving my point. There's no one way to do it properly. I'd bet that in burris's case, the police department told him it was fine to test, and then didn't do a damn thing. They simply counted on him or her informing the E911 operator that it was a test call.
-- B
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In a realm outside causality and function |
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burris
Premium
join:2000-08-22
Miami, FL
·VOIPo
·AT&T Southeast
·ViaTalk
·Comcast
| said by B :I do really appreciate the advice, but you folks are proving my point. There's no one way to do it properly. I'd bet that in burris's case, the police department told him it was fine to test, and then didn't do a damn thing. They simply counted on him or her informing the E911 operator that it was a test call. -- B What is your point?? I called...I tested and all was ok.
How to improve on that?? |
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unknvoip
join:2006-07-25
Rochester, NY
·ViaTalk
| said by burris :How to improve on that?? Nothing that I can imagine.
Just make sure you tell the 911 operator that this is a non-emergency call and immediately tell them why you are calling.
In the case of calling the Police or 911 Administrator prior to the 911 center, I'm sure they would know if there were a situation causing high call volumes to the local 911 center and advise you not to call then. |
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soitgoes2
join:2005-01-14
·Future Nine Corpor..
| reply to burris
Doing it properly is obtaining permission so you aren't violating the law/getting in trouble for calling 911 in the absence of an emergency. Of course you need to talk to the operator when they answer and tell them it was a test. Indeed, you want to talk to the operator to verify that your address information is being passed on appropriately, etc. |
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Fisamo
Premium
join:2004-02-20
Apex, NC
·AT&T CallVantage
| reply to B
This situation illustrates the joys of local control. It may not make sense for a 'one size fits all' approach here (in terms of ONE local procedure for reaching PSAP administration). It seems that the general advice is to look for an administrative number for your PSAP, and call that to ask permission (if you can find such a number). If you cannot find that number, requesting permission of the local emergency services (local PD or FD--I'd probably call PD first) is the next step. Honestly, the main reason for this is probably to be sure you're not calling during a 'busy time' (e.g. school bus crashes on the interstate, causing a 50 car pile-up).
FWIW, when I called the local PD, they gave me that administrative number to call for the PSAP. In my area, that number doubles as the non-E911 routing to the dispatchers. I actually got the same dispatcher dialing the 10-digit number AND when test-dialing 911 a few seconds later. |
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soitgoes2
join:2005-01-14
·Future Nine Corpor..
| said by Fisamo :I actually got the same dispatcher dialing the 10-digit number AND when test-dialing 911 a few seconds later. Yep. Sometimes the only difference is the call priority and info displayed. |
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ropeguru
Premium
join:2001-01-25
Hollywood, FL
clubs:
| reply to B
said by B :said by MartyT :To arrange a test, look up the number for the 911 administrative number in the phone book. Ask to speak to the 911 administrator and advise him/her that you want to test a VOIP 911 call. They will understand and if the call takers are not busy, will let you go ahead and make the call immediately. Never have been told not to try it right away. I see no such office or administrator title in any of the localities with which I'm familiar. As I said, there's no reliably uniform and safe way to do this. -- B Probably listed as "non emergency" number. |
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B
Premium,MVM
join:2000-10-28
| reply to burris
Hey, I'm not looking to fight about this, guys!
I'm just saying, from the beginning up there, that there's no uniform way to seek or acquire "permission" to test E911. (Frankly, the uncertainty and potential hassle involved probably keeps lots of people like me from doing such essential tests.)
If we have to pick apart a specific example, it's certainly possible (if very unlikely) for someone to prosecute burris for having made a non-emergency E911 call unless he had it in writing and signed by an appropriate party that he had been granted permission. Having a verbal "yeah sure" from Officer Flanagan might not exactly hold up, especially if the P.O. doesn't recall the conversation.
But I don't care so please don't get on my case about this.
-- B
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In a realm outside causality and function |
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