VoIP and 999: Important information about emergencies

In the UK, there are two important numbers for medical advice. 111 is the UK’s non-emergency number, while 999 is for life-or-death situations handled by the police, fire service, ambulance service and (if relevant) mountain rescue or the coastguard in your area. (112 can also be dialled instead of 999).

If you pay for internet phone service, you need to understand how this affects your ability to dial 999. In short: you can, but there are some other issues to consider.

Nimvelo and 999

Nimvelo provides connections to the 999 service providing you’re dialling from the UK.

Note that you cannot use Nimvelo to dial emergency services in other countries outside the UK. So when you’re on holiday in Spain, for example, we couldn’t connect you to the Spanish fire service no matter what number you dialled.

Hardware and power

In addition, there is a critical difference between VoIP and basic PTSN telephones. While VoIP phones need mains power, the telephone line provides power for many PTSN phones.

In an emergency, this is important. In a fire, it’s more likely that a PTSN phone will still work, because the BT cable is largely run outside the house. Mains power will fail as soon as the fire reaches any part of the circuit, rendering a mains-powered phone unusable – that’s if it hasn’t cut out your router first.

It’s not just VoIP phones that are vulnerable. Any phone that needs a power supply, such as a cordless DECT phone on a PTSN network, will also stop working in a fire.

Internet phone service will cease to function if you don’t have an internet connection, too – regardless of why that is.

Where are you?

VoIP providers must invite you to you specify your physical location and associate that with your VoIP number. For example, if you have a branch office, you might assign the address to your staff working there, even though your main business office has an address elsewhere.

This information is held privately, and its used if the emergency services need to know where someone has called from. If they were to get cut off, they could at least trace the call and visit the address, using a combination of location data and your provider’s data to pinpoint your likely location.

The operator will also ask you where you are, if they have the opportunity to do so.

Backup options

Naturally, this is not a failsafe solution. VoIP is designed to be used in multiple locations, and rough GPS data is always going to be of interest, even when an address is given elsewhere. However, it’s best to provide your VoIP provider with your most likely location, just in case the emergency services need to locate you.

In terms of being able to dial 999, all providers will connect the call providing the phone is working. We strongly recommend that you have a back-up, such as a mobile phone or a very simple PTSN phone without a mains plug, just in case you need to dial 999 without power.