VANCOUVER – British Columbia RCMP on Monday issued an advisory for people using – or who are thinking about switching to – voice over Internet protocol telephony.
The BC Mounties told residents to "ensure that their provider offers effective 9-1-1 emergency service. Ensure your 9-1-1 call is connected to your local emergency call centre," says the advisory.
"It has come to the attention of the RCMP that some VOIP service providers re-route 9-1-1 calls to call centres outside the Province who then try to connect the call with the local call centres. This has resulted in some emergency calls not being dealt with effectively," it continues.
"The RCMP are not specifically identifying any VOIP service providers. The RCMP responds to numerous 9-1-1 calls from BC residents on any given day. Effective response time is dependant on calls being received by our emergency call centre personnel in a timely manner and with complete caller information."
As said on www.cartt.ca before, this is not the type of publicity newcomers to the local phone scene want to be part of.
