Hacker News Reader

Their are companies out there that answer 911 calls originating form VOIP systems. I work for one that handles provides those services to nearly a 1 million VOIP users. We handle a LOT of V911 calls everyday.

Also, with the growing popularity of providing Wifi telephony, their are bigger 911 issues in the offing.

View on HN

"systems may not support direct 911 dialing, route 911 calls to the nearest 911 call center, or transmit accurate information on the caller’s location or call-back number." Points #2 and 3 are what's critical here.

I'm aware, I don't want to use the comments as advertising, but these problems have been addressed in a specialized manner with the services we provide. Not that they can't be wrong (location) but protocols are in place for dealing with those that are/maybe.

Does it need to be fixed? Yes! but its wrong to assume that V911 is broken at a wholesale level. The same issues face E911 as well. The entire location system (Long/Lat) does not work well when altitude is brought into play. Their are standards in place for VOIP systems to transmit their exact NETWORK location, but it rarely implemented.

Its often up to the customer to make sure their service address is accurately rendered with the carrier, so it can be fed to intrado or whatever to ensure that 911 and e911 works accurately.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com