Important 911 Information (Must Read)

Posts: 15 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Dec 27, 2005 Posts: 15

Everyone MUST somehow check your 911 address that is displayed when you call 911. I did a test of 911 last night here in New Hampshire and found that they have the wrong address and name listed for my phone number. I checked the address I have listed on Vonage and it is correct, but the number that 911 had was completely wrong. To check the address I called my local Police department in Milford, NH and asked about doing to a test call to 911, they told me that if I called 911 and even told them that it was a test call that they would have to dispatch a patrol car to my house and I felt they had better things to do than that. So the officer transferred me to the dispatcher who I explained everything to and was more than willing to help me out. He placed a call to Concord where the main 911 is located and explained to them I wanted to test my Voip E911 service. I then called 911 and told them who I was and what I was doing, and then asked what address, if any was displayed and she gave me an address and name from another town. I told her this was incorrect and she told me that she would put in a change of address form for the correct address. This is very important for everyone to make sure that your information is correct, I would hate to think that one of my 3 daughters had to call 911 and could not talk for whatever reason and then have the police go to the wrong house because Vonage screwed up and had the wrong information listed for my phone number. The other thing that was odd was after I completed my test of 911 and hung up, my phone would not stop ringing and there was never anyone there and everytime I hung it would just ring until I rebooted my Linksys combo box. I am sorry that this is so long but it is very important information that everyone should know. Like I said before call your local police department before you call 911 and make sure what the laws are about testing your E911 service.
Good Luck
Scott

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 8:45 am Post subject:

Yikes!

Thanks for that. Here in Maine, "933" tells me that I have to provide my name and address anyway, so we obviously don't have "E911" up here in the hinterlands.

Back when I lived in Milford and Nasua, this was long before Vonage, but I have a friend in Brookline who was looking at Vonage - I'll tell her to check out 911 carefully.

Did you transfer a number or anything?

I assume you've called Vonage Customer Service?

Posts: 15 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Dec 27, 2005 Posts: 15

NateHoy when I called 933 it told me that same thing, that I had to give my address also but when I called 911 it displayed an address, just not the right one. Also I did not transfer a number, I took a new number or from what it seems now an old number that Vonage got back from someone who canceled it. I have not called Vonage yet but plan to this afternoon.

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 8:59 am Post subject:

Hmm. Looks like I gotta get off my tush and call my local constable, and find out what the policy is here in Maine on testing 911. Thanks for the heads-up.

Posts: 21 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Nov 28, 2005 Posts: 21

I'm sorry, I hate to say it, but this is all just scary!!. No way I am leaving 911 to chance like that - not with the stories I've been hearing.

I had the option to order naked dsl but for the extra $9 a month I chose to get dialtone. It's worth if for the E911 peace of mind. I now have a "batphone" that says "911 CALLS ONLY" on it (for houeguests) located in a strategic place in the house.

I also have alarm.com - I believe their monitoring service is UL certified, and I trust them to pass along our correct physical address if we need to push the panic button.

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 3:29 pm Post subject:

TEST RESULTS: TOPSHAM, MAINE

I'll give them a B+ for 911 in my area.

I'm posting a lot of detail in case anyone is interested...

OK, I called my local police station, and found out that 911 was handled by the county. I finally got ahold of the number for the Emergency Op Center Sagadahoc County in Maine (207-443-8201 in case anyone lives around here). I called the op center and got a very friendly gentleman who wrote down my number and told me to hang up and call 911 right back.

With some trembling, fear, and trepidation (leaving 911 alone except in a real emergency has been pounded into me pretty hard - grin), I called "911".

I was immediately dispatched to a call center that was not part of my local area. However, the woman who answered asked "do you need police, fire, or ambulance"? When I informed her that this was a test, she read off my name and address accurately, then verified that I had pre-checked with my local 911 call center, then transferred the call to them. It took about 20 seconds of "you are connected to 911. please stay on the line" repeating until the operator got through, then she briefly announced that she was handling a test call and got off the line, leaving me connected to the local 911 op center.

The local 911 operator was a little taken aback that the call had reached a national call center as opposed to dialing straight through to the op center. He stated that on a normal telco line, the call should have been dropped STRAIGHT to him, but at least I know that someone will answer the phone who:

1. Knows my correct name, address, and telephone number.
2. Knows how to get that information quickly to my local 911 rep.

I'm not entirely clear that my name and address got across to the local 911 rep on any sort of a screen, but the woman who answered the call could have read it off to him in a real emergency. Better than nothing...

So, if I ever have to call 911 and can't talk, I at least know that someone will be able to help me. It's not 100% efficient, as adding in the extra call center means a delay, and I live on a street with a really odd name that's hard to read, but it's far better than nothing.

PS: "933" continues to tell me that I will have to provide my address to the agent, which is obviously untrue.

Posts: 21 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Nov 28, 2005 Posts: 21

Yes, 933 seems to be sometimes inaccurate, which is worse than not having it at all.

Batphone was the way to go for us. Smile

Posts: 1389 · Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 3:47 pm Post subject:

Good story Nate, although that 20 seconds would suck if you were on fire...

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 4:05 pm Post subject:

Trowski wrote:

Good story Nate, although that 20 seconds would suck if you were on fire...

Well, true. But it's better than what 933 told me. All I'd have to do is yell "FIRE" and they'd call the local 911 office and get all the relevant information in.

Besides, I live in Maine. If I was on fire, I'd go out and roll in the snow. (grin)

Posts: 1389 · Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 4:08 pm Post subject:

Good point...Grilled Natehoy I heard is a delicacy for the moose.