VoIP call dials 9-1-1 in another state
Emergency - Internet phones can run into trouble, because a local number isn't necessarily local anymore
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
JOHN SNELL
The Oregonian

 The key to fielding any 9-1-1 call is getting answers to basic questions: Who? What? When? Where?

In the 1970s, technology began answering the "where" question automatically. Enhanced 9-1-1 service sent a caller's phone number and address to call centers the instant the emergency numbers were dialed. Today, technology is tossing a wrench in the works by occasionally sending false information to emergency dispatchers.

It happened in Washington County in April, when a frantic woman phoned 9-1-1 and said her son couldn't breathe. Her call went to the 9-1-1 call center in Beaverton, even though the woman was three time zones and 2,700 miles away, in Peachtree City, Ga.

 It happened courtesy of the newest thing in telecommunications: the Internet telephone.

Just as a cell phone with a local number can make and receive calls anywhere in the country, Internet phones work regardless of where they're connected.

The bottom line: A local number isn't necessarily local anymore.

And therein lies the problem -- that nomadic capability continues to stymie efforts to create a simple fix to make the service consistently work with 9-1-1 centers nationwide.

Services such as Vonage, SunRocket, Lingo and VoiceWing use technology called VoIP, or Voice Over Internet Protocol. They are popular because they're cheap and portable. Vonage, the largest provider, advertises monthly service for $24.95. Calls across the United States and Canada and to most of Europe are included for no extra charge. Calls elsewhere are generally about a penny a minute.

Businesses are flocking to VoIP, and estimates project that as many as half of the nation's companies will use the service by the end of next year. No one seems to have figures on the number of residential users, but it's thought to be in the millions.

Just like sending e-mail, a person can make a VoIP call from anywhere they can tap into the Internet. A phone number never changes no matter where the person is, just as an e-mail address remains the same when someone moves to another street in another town.

"With the regular copper wire calls we get, there is a very low rate of inaccuracy," said Larry Hatch, assistant director of the Washington County 9-1-1 center. "VoIP is so new, I just don't have any idea how many errors we have. This one stood out in the call-taker's mind because it came from clear across the United States."

The call in April involved a child who was having trouble breathing and a parent who hysterically responded to the emergency. The child survived the incident said Peggy R. Glaze, assistant director of Fayette County, Ga. 9-1-1, which eventually handled the call.

Not every VoIP/9-1-1 mix-up has ended as well.

Newark Networks, a VoIP equipment manufacturer based in England, published a report last year on the subject. It noted cases where Internet phone customers died when pleas for help were routed to other countries.

The report says the Federal Communications Commission has ruled that Internet phone companies in the United States must make sure a phone number and accurate address are automatically reported with every 9-1-1 call.

"The onus is on the customer to provide the location information," the report says.

Dependence on the customer caused the April incident in Washington County.

At Vonage headquarters in Holmdel, N.J., Stephen Seitz, company vice president of regulatory affairs, said the 9-1-1 mix-up was the fault of the customer, who had been using Vonage for telephone service since 2004.

Seitz said the customer took his phone with him to Georgia, and plugged it in without telling Vonage of the change.

The customer has since registered the proper address, Seitz said.

"We take any issue of public safety very seriously," he said.

Seitz said there are more than 6,500 9-1-1 centers nationwide. The Federal Communications Commission ordered Vonage to offer Enhanced 9-1-1 service -- where addresses and call-back numbers are sent to dispatch centers automatically -- to its customers in 2005.

Technology Marketing Corp., a company specializing in Internet telephony, studied the issue last summer and published a report on its Web site that concluded, "There is no single standard that will solve the emergency location problem."

The Norwalk, Conn., company said a number of technological solutions were in the works, but none seemed poised to solve the problem soon.

Enhanced 9-1-1 service came to Vonage customers in Washington County last year. Before that, VoIP customers had trouble connecting with 9-1-1 centers quickly or even connecting at all.

"VoIP is a new technology for 9-1-1," Seitz said. "We process a small percentage of the 9-1-1 calls that are made each day."

 John Snell: 503-294-5949; johnsnell@news.oregonian.com