A Canadian VoIP provider or carrier enters into an agreement with Northern911. After signing a confidentiality agreement, the database of their clients is uploaded. Northern then pre-populates the fields for routing through the ILEC or directly to the Police/Fire/Ambulance agencies.

The VoIP provider then programs their switch so that when one of their clients calls 911, the call with the associated Caller ID is routed directly to Northern911.

VoIP providers are able to route the 911 call from their switch anywhere in North America to Northern911's Emergency Dispatch Centre.

We can handle the call and even without the regular enhanced ANI/ALI data provide "Basic" 911 service. Our Call Taker answers as usual with "911, Do you need Police, Fire or Ambulance?"

While the caller is replying, we do a database look up on the Caller ID. We then confirm the location with the caller.

"Just to confirm, you need the Police. Are you still at 123 Main St. in Vancouver?" and with a positive reply, we immediately transfer the call.

By pre-populating the database fields with the correct Police/Fire/Ambulance we provide the fastest possible response time.

If the caller has moved from their last known address, we do a database look up at the address of the location where they tell us that they are to determine the correct Police/Fire or Ambulance agency. We then transfer the call.

When we do a transfer, we stay on the line to confirm that it is a "good" transfer and the parties are communicating.

In the event that we receive a call where there is no voice contact or we have a non-responsive caller, we transfer the call and provide the information to the appropriate response agency based on the "last known address". Every call is dealt with.

The following is an overview of a standard Call Flow Routing for Canadian VoIP 911. This Call Flow and the various components are subject to change.

All 9-1-1 calls are handled by APCO trained staff on a 24/7 basis. Our average answer time for 911 calls is 99.x answered within the first ring. We provide all VoIP companies three DIDs to route their inbound calls to (One for English and one for French so the caller can be answered in their language of choice and one from a back up CO) and subscribe to a translation service to cover 170 other languages.

Send mail to info@northern911.com with questions or comments about this web site.