IT Jobs
999 calls could leave VoIP for dead
IP phones useless in an emergency, claims VegaStream.
By Bryan Betts, Techworld | Techworld
Published: 10:35 GMT, 17 October 07
Crunch time is coming for VoIP services as demands grow for access to emergency service numbers, a VoIP hardware supplier has warned.
"VoIP is currently the only call service not required to allow 999 calls," said Steve Davis, sales and marketing VP for VegaStream. "Specifically, the problems are to do with finding your geographic location, and with what happens if your broadband connection goes down."
The geographic issue is that callers can connect to an IP PBX from anywhere, so unless the 999 operator can trace them via their IP address - which requires a specialist service, and is uncertain even then - the only location data received will be that of the PBX.
Speaking at the IP'07 exhibition in London, Davis added that research by Ofcom last year discovered that 78 percent of UK households with a VoIP service that did not provide 999 access incorrectly thought that it did provide 999 access or didn't know if it did.
He said that companies using VoIP need to ensure not only that they keep a PSTN line for emergencies, but that their PBX automatically diverts 999 calls to that line.
"Ofcom has recommended that all VoIP services need to be able to make 999 calls, and this could be mandated as early as January 2008," he noted.
VegaStream's answer is new firmware for its VoIP gateways that intercepts emergency calls and re-routes them onto the PSTN. "It means there is no need to reprogram your PBX, and it could avoid the huge challenges that an Ofcom ruling could present," Davis claimed.
.gif)
SANs tuned for virtualisation
Add your commentComments
bob | Published: 08:36 GMT, 01 November 2008
needed to make as emergence call via my sipgate VoIP line last night and it worked very well, the operator even telling the police that I was ringing from a VoIP line, used Vonage some time ago for 999 call and it was a shambles got routed to wrong police force and the line would not clear down!
Hannes Tschofenig | Published: 15:29 GMT, 18 October 2007
The article mentions a way to retrieve location information of the end host via its IP address. It points to a separate article that proposes a pretty unreliable method: "It relies on a directory of APs and base-stations compiled by volunteers." That seems to be pretty unreliable for emergency service usage! The VegaStream's solution is (a) not new and (b) ignores the challenging problems. It does not, for example, answer the question of how the VoIP gateway gets the location of the emergency caller.
Hannes Tschofenig | Published: 15:18 GMT, 18 October 2007
Stephen, "999" is the emergency number used in the UK. For emergency numbers used in other countries please take a look at: www.sccfd.org/travel.html
Hannes Tschofenig | Published: 15:16 GMT, 18 October 2007
Folks might want to attend the upcoming emergency services workshop to learn a bit more about the ongoing work in this area. See www.emergency-services-coordination.info/2007Nov/
Stephen | Published: 13:50 GMT, 18 October 2007
What is a "999 call"? Should this really been written as "911 calls"?
Dennis | Published: 12:18 GMT, 18 October 2007
I have never really understood why VOIP is so important, if you think about it there is no longer any such thing as a fixed point to point line service. Once the call gets past the local exchange it gets routed as packets anyway by the telcos so they are doing just what the internet does so it will be quite easy for them to emulate the charging regime that VOIP enjoys. I suspect that VOIP is really regarded by the telcos as a marketing issue and not a technical one.