999 and faults

When making use of VoIP (Voice over IP), careful consideration needs to me made as to how you would make a call to the emergency services if the VoIP service is not working.

What could stop VoIP from working?

The following are scenarios that could make your VoIP number from A&A not work:

• Power cut in the local area - your internet connection and devices would lose power and not function
• Fault with internet connection - could be caused by any number of reasons, an internet connection is dependant on a large number of things working, which could break and take some time to get fixed
• A fault with your equipment - eg a router or telephone stops working for some reason
• Fault with the ISP or the VoIP provider - Faults can happen.

Suggestions

...For a local power cut

In the past, a standard landline phone could be used to make calls as it would be powered from the exchange and still work if your premises had a power cut. With VoIP this is not the case.

We'd suggest the following as methods to make emergency calls during a power cut to you premises:

1. Use a mobile phone - ensure you have a mobile or two charged up and with a working service.
2. Have a UPS (Uninterruptible Power supply) which can power your internet equipment - router, phone, etc so that you have backup power to devices that will enable to you make calls. Test that this works!