VoIP Call Centre Sends Ambulance to Wrong Address and CRTC Requests Remedial Legislation

The technical barriers to delivering assured emergency 911 services to voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP) users have been known since at least 2005 (see E-TIPS ®, "Canadian VoIP Provider Announces Service in Uncertain Regulatory Climate", Vol 3, No 21 April 13, 2005 and "Emergency Services and VoIP Callers", Vol 4, No 4, August 17, 2005). Also in 2005, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) required service providers to notify customers of the technical limitations of VoIP. Three years later, the issue has resurfaced after medical aid to a child in Calgary, Elijah Luck, was delayed when an ambulance was dispatched to the wrong address in another province. The relevant call centre responsible for taking 911 calls from their VoIP customers had relied on the family's previous address in Ontario which was on file, even though bills were being sent to their new address in Calgary. Moreover, the line had disconnected twice during the call, so the call centre could not confirm the family's current address. Perhaps the notoriety of this incident will lend urgency to efforts to prevent future such incidents, although without legislative action, the CRTC cannot itself change its regulation of VoIP emergency services. On July 28, 2008, the CRTC issued Telecom Circular CRTC 2008-2 entitled "Emergency service obligations of nomadic local VoIP service providers related to determining the location of a 9-1-1 caller", reiterating service provider obligations in that regard. The CRTC currently lacks sufficient enforcement powers relating to VoIP and is reported to have asked the federal government to take the necessary action to give it additional powers to enforce the rules. For a recent news report from the Calgary Herald, visit: http://tinyurl.com/5q72wu Summary by: Cheryl Cheung