VoIP Forum

The CRTC announced Monday it has cleared fixed or native voip services providers from 2005 regulations requiring them to notify customers of potential issues with their 911 services.

Nomadic VoIP services providers will be required to notify customers of service limitations that specifically affect their 911 services but not general service disruptions that necessarily impact the services.

The CRTC amended a pair of 2005 rulings on VoIP emergency service options (decisions 2005-21 and 2005-61) and noted that VoIP 911 services might be impacted by issues such as power outages or Internet disruptions.

But that it would not be appropriate to oblige voip services providers to warn customers that the problems can affect their ability to place emergency calls, the CRTC said.

Instead, the commission said nomadic providers must warn customers only if a problem is specific to its 911 service and not to its VoIP services in general.

The CRTC has now cleared fixed VoIP services providers of these responsibilities entirely.

The CRTC suggested that the move was designed to counteract an incorrect customer perception that VoIP 911 services are less reliable than those offered on traditional telephone services.