VoIP Internet Telephony
Dialing 911 with broadband phone service
Does VoIP Internet telephony work with 911 emergency calling? First of all, rest assured, 911 emergency calling does work with. That said, there’s an even more advanced version of 911 calling that is not just available for broadband phone service use, but is actually federally mandated for broadband phone service use.
What is E911?
E911 stands for enhanced 911, and what it does is provide the emergency operator answering an E911 call with exact address the call was made from, and if available, the precise location of the caller to within 1,000 feet.
E911 goes VoIP
In November 2005, the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) ordered that all VoIP Internet telephony providers must provide all their customers with Enhanced 911 (E911) service. Even better and more advanced than regular 911 service, E911 sends the emergency operator the address of your location.
The Crux of E911 and VoIP
This VoIP Internet telephony E911 service, however, can only locate your actual location if the device you’re using to make the call has a GPS built in. In the case of VoIP Internet telephony, this is most likely not going to be the case.
Most VoIP Internet telephony users are either home users placing and receiving broadband phone calls on their home computer or business users accessing broadband phone service from their workstation. In case, the address and precise location where such broadband phone service calls are being conducted is stationery, and this discrepancy is avoided.
But when using broadband phone service on-the-go, on a laptop, a WiFi-enabled smartphone or other mobile device, this all-important feature of E911 is subverted.
In that case, what happens is that the E911 emergency operator gets sent the address on file for your VoIP Internet telephony service, which you submit when you sign up for broadband phone service. This is why it is of the utmost importance for you to always update your broadband phone service provider with your new calling location the instant you move or travel with your VoIP Internet telephony service. You can easily do this from your online account manager.
The best of both worlds: Full E911 and VoIP
If it concerns you that an E911 operator may not be able to get a fix on your actual location when you’re in an emergency and not at the address on file with your VoIP Internet telephony service provider, then you have a couple of preventative options available to you:
- Buy a VoIP Internet telephony phone that comes with a built-in GPS.
- Don’t have VoIP be your exclusive method of placing and receiving calls, but also have on your person a regular cell phone with a built-in GPS.
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