Tested 911 and they did not see my address

Posts: 508 · Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2005 7:00 pm Post subject:

most of the time, a Bell landline will still have dial tone and will still dial 911, but I'm not sure what kind of info they will get, they may or may not know your name (since you were the last person to have a phone at that address they may know your name, but I kinda doubt it).. I dont' even know if they'd know your address.. but atleast you'd get the real 911, and you could still tell them, atleast someone will answer, you won't get the "back desk" of the poilce station, or somewhere..

Posts: 18 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: May 12, 2005 Posts: 18

Just as a heads up...

If you are in Calgary, and you dial 911, you go to the Calgary Police Service non-emergency number (266-1234). Not all of the officers know about Voip, or how it doesn't go thru the traditional 911 service.

Also, this number tends to get very busy (with hold times) at night.

Posts: 188 · Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2005 1:48 pm Post subject:

Texx wrote:

Just as a heads up...

If you are in Calgary, and you dial 911, you go to the Calgary Police Service non-emergency number (266-1234). Not all of the officers know about Voip, or how it doesn't go thru the traditional 911 service.

The same is true in Burnaby and likely most other places. The call is routed to the non-emergency number for the police department for your city. This will not change until the Canadian 911 solution is rolled out. This isn't expected until November.

Posts: 18 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: May 12, 2005 Posts: 18

True, but to me the biggest problem is that the officers answering the phone don't know that Voip goes to the non-emerg number. If I'm calling 911, I don't want to spend 5 minutes explaining to them that I *did* dial 911, and that I can't call back (unlikely, but possible)

Posts: 188 · Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2005 4:53 pm Post subject:

Texx wrote:

True, but to me the biggest problem is that the officers answering the phone don't know that Voip goes to the non-emerg number. If I'm calling 911, I don't want to spend 5 minutes explaining to them that I *did* dial 911, and that I can't call back (unlikely, but possible)

Yep, my recommendation and I have stated elsewhere in the forum is not to call 911 from your Vonage phone at all until the 911 solution is rolled out. Make sure that you family understands this too. Although I have activated and tested 911 dialing, my family has been told to use the cell phone (we have three in the house) to call 911. It is better to use your cell phone for this. Remember, 911 "dialing" (think speed dial to an non-emergency number) from Vonage is not the same as 911 "service" (the service that you are used to with cell or wireline providers).

Posts: 188 · Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2005 5:06 pm Post subject:

dabones wrote:

most of the time, a Bell landline will still have dial tone and will still dial 911, but I'm not sure what kind of info they will get, they may or may not know your name (since you were the last person to have a phone at that address they may know your name, but I kinda doubt it).. I dont' even know if they'd know your address.. but atleast you'd get the real 911, and you could still tell them, atleast someone will answer, you won't get the "back desk" of the poilce station, or somewhere..

Yeah, I have heard this too but I wouldn't count on it. As per the CRTC (I asked), telcos aren't required to maintain service or a connection to an address that doesn't subscribe to their service. I have heard that Bell does this anyway. I don't know if Telus but now I tempted to check it out. It doesn't matter to me because as I said there is no requirement for them to maintain the service so they can yank it at anytime.

In the US however, the FCC requires that access to 911 and the telcos customer service line be maintained by telcos after "disconnection" (or cancellation). This is done using a "soft" dial tone and assigning a phone number to the address so that it will work properly with e911. Obviously, this number isn't disclosed to the resident and is just used to identify the line and the address that it is connected to.

Posts: 336 · Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2005 1:28 am Post subject:

[color=green]Vonage does offer e911 to residents of Rhode Island in the US, and I read that they are partnering with other phone companies to extend the e911 service in the US. As more and more people start depending on Voip as their primary household phone, you can bet your boots that e911 will be equally available for Voip as it is for the PSTN system. The problem is with stingy Bell sharing this service with Voip providers. You know they won't do it unless they are forced to do it by law. It's only a matter of time before this law comes into effect. The first case in Canada where someone dies because of the current setup, we'll all have e911. As morbid and as unfortunate as it seems, it will likely take a death for this to happen.