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BACKGROUNDERS | Updated: Tue, Feb 21, 2006 12:27 pm PDT

Emergency Calls

Last revised by Ali Farshchian, Feb 18, 06 at 7:08 pm PDT | Edit | Add New Term

The nature of IP makes it difficult to geographically locate network users. Emergency calls, therefore, can not easily be routed to a nearby call center, and are impossible on some VoIP systems. Moreover, in the event that the caller is unable to give an address, emergency services may be unable to locate them in any other way. Following the lead of mobile phone carriers, several VoIP carriers are already implementing a technical work-around. The United States government had set a deadline, requiring VoIP carriers to implement e911, however, the deadline is being appealed by several of the leading VoIP companies.

This is a different situation with IPBX systems, where these corporate systems often have full e911 capabilities built into the system.

A simple solution to this problem is to store the local emergency numbers on speed dial which is usually even faster than having to be transferred by the 911 operator.

This text is licensed under the GNU Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article “VoIP".

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