VoIP Related Death In Canada

The unfortunate death of a toddler in Canada is making VoIP out to be the culprit when in reality technology kills the same way as a gun. It comes down to people.

The call being sent to the wrong call center, the one where the family previously had their service forwarded usually occurs as a result of most VoIP operators not requiring a "heartbeat" which means that the connectivity to the IP network stopped.

Here at home my AT&T CallVantage literally will not allow a call each time we have a power outage that impacts the analog telephone adapter. It slows me down for five seconds, and is a very important reminder of how important the heartbeat service is. Without verifying the heartbeat calls can't be made.

The second reason calls go to the wrong call center usually is the fact that even though credit card companies require and address change, most times once a credit card is used and set up for auto-payment, until the card becomes invalid, due to its expiration, there's not usually another check off. If the card's registered address didn't match up to the residence, another block could be placed on the phone.

The PSAPS (Public Service Access Points) also have to be prompt in updating the information. Even if the carrier did notify them, and even if the consumer had notified the carrier, if the updated information had not been updated, this also impacts the success of

The most efficient way for VoIP operators and IP network operators to prevent things like this from happening would also be IP number location based lookups. Moving from one community to another, while remaining with even the same providers would also trigger the need for the user to re-register.

The death is unfortunate, and the carrier has to shoulder some of the burden. Consumers as a rule don't know better. Carriers do.

Another irony here is the company Comwave also owns the iPhone trademark in Canada. I wonder if Steve Jobs will be offering to help the family out.

Comments

[Tony Palik]

Well written summary with all the right points. I have wondered for some time about IP number location based lookups but not been able to find the information I was looking for. Any pointers to such information would be most appreciated.

I too have AT&T CV with both a TA and softphone. I agree that the functionality for E911 is pretty airtight for te TA-based line, but it also asks me to do this on the softphone. To me this doesn't make sense as the whole idea is that the client is portable. There are times I don't even know the zip code where I am, never mind the address. I also take my laptop out of the country several times a year.