Hey everyone,
Does ComWave have their own call center for 911 services or do they
sub-contract another call center for 911 services like most Canadian
VoIP providers?
Our 911 call center treats the 911 calls like this:
1- First, all 911 calls are recorded and review if there's any issues or
dispute later on.
2- 911 agent receives the call and ask the user what is needed: fire,
ambulance or security.
3- Meanwhile, the 911 agent reads the address displayed on their
computer screen.
4- Once the user specify what they need, the agent confirms the address
before dispatching the proper service to the user (to make sure they
send the service to the right address). This step only takes a few
seconds. If there's no address on the screen, the 911 agent will ask the
user for the exact address and this will take longer to connect the call.
So in this case with the family from Calgary, the 911 agent would have
confirmed the address with the user before dispatching the ambulance.
Hopefully, the user knows the family civic address and is able to
communicate it to the 911 agent. If the 911 agent cannot confirm the
address with the user, the agent will send the ambulance to the
registered address from the database (last known good address).
If the 911 agent never asked to confirmed the address with the caller
before dispatching the ambulance, the phone company may be held liable
for this negligence with their 911 procedure (this is just my personal
opinion!). But hopefully, they have recorded the 911 call and show
exactly how the call was handled.
5- If the user can't communicate, the dispatcher will send the police to
the address in the database (last known good address).
One issue I have with my current 911 call center (same as everyone else
by the way) is if they receive a 911 call and the call gets
disconnected, the agent will send the police to the address on file.
This is fine but I would rather want to confirm by calling back the user
and cancel the police dispatch if this was an error. The Agent never
calls back the phone number on the display.
Same thing happens when the 911 agent receives a call with no address on
the screen and the call gets disconnected, the 911 Agent contacts our
customer service to get the address instead of calling back the user
from the number on the callerid. This procedure is very lengthy.
This procedure creates huge delay and I wish the 911 call center would
change their procedures regarding disconnected calls. I wish they would
call back the number on the callerid to confirm if everything is OK and
if the user needs any assistance. The 911 agent should call our customer
service only as the last resort if they do not get any answer when
calling back the user.
We do ask our customers to register their address for each number, but
most of them don't bother and it's a scary thought.
Maybe we should all get together (VoIP providers) and put pressure with
our 911 call center to modify their procedures.
Any thought?
Stephan Monette
Unlimitel Inc.
Tel.: 613-688-6212. x221
TF : 1-877-464-6638, x221
FAX : 613-482-1077
Dave Bour wrote:
There's two things here that could have helped.
1. Database linkage of billing address to emergency address. Had that changed,
it would or should raise a flag to investigate.
2. GeoIP tracking has been around for a long time. The registrar could again
have a flag to pick up such....granted if someone moves two blocks, not likely
this would have helped. In this case, a cross country move could have been
picked by a GeoIP flag.
So this raises a question though about liability and such for voice services
providers. Where do we stand. How much insurance should we have?
Dave Bour
Desktop Solution Center
905.381.0077 X501
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
For people who just want IT to work
Business http://www.desktopsolutioncenter.ca
Personal http://www.davebour.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Sandiford [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Friday, May 02, 2008 1:29 AM
To: Dave Bour
Subject: Re: [on-asterisk] 911 tragedy in Calgary reveals perils of
VoIP
This has already happened a few times in the US. If my memory serves
me
correctly, Vonage has (had) law suits against them in Florida and Texas
for
911 issues.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Bour" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Ansar Mohammed" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2008 11:40 PM
Subject: RE: [on-asterisk] 911 tragedy in Calgary reveals perils of
VoIP
Wondered how long this would take. Going to be a lot of noise over
this
one.
D.
Dave Bour
Desktop Solution Center
905.381.0077 X501
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
For people who just want IT to work
Business http://www.desktopsolutioncenter.ca
Personal http://www.davebour.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Ansar Mohammed [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2008 11:39 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [on-asterisk] 911 tragedy in Calgary reveals perils of VoIP
"TORONTO AND CALGARY - An ambulance was dispatched in response to a
911
call
about a toddler in distress, but the Internet phone service said
paramedics
went to the address it had on file - a home in Mississauga - not the
new
home in Calgary where the distraught family waited in vain for help."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080501.wphone02/BN
Story
/National/?page=rss
<http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080501.wphone02/B
NStor
y/National/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20080501.wphone02>
&id=RTGAM.20080501.wphone02
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