VoIP, no good in emergency, eh?

One of the knocks against VoIP phone service is that it has issues when dealing with emergencies.

For example, most VoIP phone services are not connected to traditional 911 Emergency Centers, and even those that are connected, do so through third-party connections that monitor 911 calls on select VoIP phones then get the emergency information to the appropriate 911 Emergency Center.

That said, what happened in Smithfield, Texas, recently was interesting.

According to a post by TMCnet Contributor Jyothi Shanbhag,  the city woke up on September 5 with practically no cell phone, landline or cable TV availability and a major wildfire a few miles from town.

LiveAir Networks came to the city’s rescue, providing Internet access and Polycom phones to its police station, city hall and community centers, Shanbhag reported, adding that hosted PBX IP provider Junction Networks used its OnSIP phone service to provide the town telephone numbers, enabling it to make and receive phone calls while dealing with the wildfire emergency.

City officials credited the companies with providing crtically needed communications during the emergency, according to Shanbhag.

She quoted City of Smithville parks and recreation director and volunteer firefighter Andis Goble as saying that the companies “very well could have saved lives.”