Tot Dies After Wait for EMS

[BlackArcher101]

Originally Posted by FireFly

I think a person would be fined if they did that.

Actually, I remember a procedure to do so, but that was probably when VOIP first started being used.

[jar_e]

FWIW, CBC reported that the VOIP call was transferred to Mississauga EMS originally.

[GreatWhiteEbola]

Originally Posted by ricosuave

^ i think that has changed to this since it first came out. good to know, though!

Shaw has always had E911, Telus would have you believe different. I beta tested the Shaw Digital Phone, and was part of the team initially offering it to the Calgary area.

[DementedReality]

while it seems the parents could have made a better choice, i think its quite classsless to call them stupid or any other name.

dont worry, they will live the rest of their life knowing the consequences of their choice, they dont need strangers reminding them. show some compassion for not only their loss, but the child who wont know what life he has lost.

[ricosuave]

Originally Posted by GreatWhiteEbola

Shaw has always had E911, Telus would have you believe different. I beta tested the Shaw Digital Phone, and was part of the team initially offering it to the Calgary area.

hmm, not sure where I picked that up then, maybe it was just a vonage thing...

[fredr123]

Apparently the VOIP provider is Comwave. Comwave is claiming that the call was disconnected for unknown reasons but they forwarded the information and EMS was dispatched... to the family's last registered address in Ontario.

The family says bull. Comwave had our address since they were sending us bills.
(source: Global News Calgary)

Also: http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/...49901-sun.html

[RedMileDJ]

Originally Posted by fredr123

Apparently the VOIP provider is Comwave. Comwave is claiming that the call was disconnected for unknown reasons but they forwarded the information and EMS was dispatched... to the family's last registered address in Ontario.

The family says bull. Comwave had our address since they were sending us bills.
(source: Global News Calgary)

Also: http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/...49901-sun.html

I used to work for Shaw, on the SDP (Shaw Digital Phone) Provisioning team.

Why did they go to the old address in Ontario? Simple answer....
COMWAVE did NOT provision the name on the account with the new address. When I worked for Shaw, we had to manually provision, or change, the address on the account, so that it matched the physical address.

Otherwise, if someone called 911 it would show up on the other end as Eg: 123 Road st.....but they live at 234 Main Ave. Someone has to PHYSICALLY change the 911 information on the provisioning end.

I was part of a panel of people that had to change a number of address in Calgary, because 911 had their addresses incorrect. We went through EVERY number and address, and then checked them again. Since then, Shaw has a team DEDICATED to make sure that this information is ALWAY 100% correct.

COMWAVE messed up, because they were too lazy to change the address information on the number.....and gave 911 the OLD address info.

[GoFlambe]

Originally Posted by Red-Mile-DJ

I used to work for Shaw, on the SDP (Shaw Digital Phone) Provisioning team.

...

COMWAVE messed up, because they were too lazy to change the address information on the number.....and give 911 the new address info.

This is what I figured based on what they say on their website and the symptoms I had gathered from the various news reports. Which is why I disagreed with the "stupid people" comment because the majority of the blame in this case lies squarely on COMWAVE.

Sure the family should have done a better job of figuring out how 911 works with VoIP, but honestly, to how many people would that idea occur? Are people just supposed to be magically aware of VoIP and all its possible technical limitations, considering that mass-market VoIP is a relatively new technology? The only positive out of all this is that people *now* will know to ask the right questions when considering a VoIP solution.

If COMWAVE did their job properly in the first place, there wouldn't have been an issue. If I were the family, I would sue them as they didn't follow their policies properly.

[FFR]

I was under the impression that Comwave has a system where the clients have to provide a billing address as well as a residence address. I thought that the family had changed the billing address but not the residence address. My initial response was, well why didn't they change both at the same time? However, if it was an online service where they just clicked a button that said change my address, it may have only changed the billing address which would explain how they were getting bills but EMS was sent to the wrong address.

I'm not saying either party was in the right or wrong here, this was just my take on the situation.

[GoFlambe]

Originally Posted by FFR

I was under the impression that Comwave has a system where the clients have to provide a billing address as well as a residence address. I thought that the family had changed the billing address but not the residence address. My initial response was, well why didn't they change both at the same time? However, if it was an online service where they just clicked a button that said change my address, it may have only changed the billing address which would explain how they were getting bills but EMS was sent to the wrong address.

I'm not saying either party was in the right or wrong here, this was just my take on the situation.

True, that.

If that's the case, then that would be really tragic. The family thought they were doing everything correctly, but the back-end software didn't work as they'd expect it, either by accident or design.

In any case, at least people are now aware of the dangers of 911 over VoIP and hopefully that will either lead to changes on behalf of the VoIP providers or a bit of regulation regarding VoIP and 911.

[MelBridgeman]

Originally Posted by GoFlambe

This is what I figured based on what they say on their website and the symptoms I had gathered from the various news reports. Which is why I disagreed with the "stupid people" comment because the majority of the blame in this case lies squarely on COMWAVE.

Sure the family should have done a better job of figuring out how 911 works with VoIP, but honestly, to how many people would that idea occur? Are people just supposed to be magically aware of VoIP and all its possible technical limitations, considering that mass-market VoIP is a relatively new technology? The only positive out of all this is that people *now* will know to ask the right questions when considering a VoIP solution.

If COMWAVE did their job properly in the first place, there wouldn't have been an issue. If I were the family, I would sue them as they didn't follow their policies properly.

The way i see it...esspecially in this case, a child with a history medical problems, why leave fate in someone else's hands? I don't have VOIP and have never thought of getting it, and never did any research on it, i still know that 911 isn't guaranteed, they should of known this, made extra sure that everything would work correctly...and i wouldn't be using VOIP if my child had medical issues, i would have a land line in every room in the house...we always love to blame things on other people, human nature, but the kid is the responsibility of the parents not comwave...leaving imoprtant things like that in other peoples hands is not a good decision.

[fredr123]

Update: http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/...15181-sun.html

The family of a Calgary toddler who died after paramedics were dispatched to a home three provinces away say they are glad a federal investigation has found the phone company accountable.

But Elijah Luck's loved ones say the investigation won't bring back their little boy.

On April 29, the 18-month-old died following a 911 mix-up when ambulances were sent to his family's previous home in Mississauga, Ont., rather than their house in Coventry Hills, after the emergency call was made using a Voice over Internet Protocol phone.