Doug Ward, Vancouver Sun

The death last week of a toddler in Calgary underlines the need for Internet phone users to find out how their Internet providers handle 911 calls.

The warning from Vancouver emergency communications officials comes in response to the death Tuesday of 18-month- old Elijah Luck.

The boy's family placed a 911 call on an Internet-based phone service -- or VoIP -- which was routed to a call centre in Ontario rather than to a Calgary 911 centre.

When the call was disconnected, for undetermined reasons, the call centre contacted emergency services.

But the ambulance was dispatched to Mississauga rather than to the Calgary home where the toddler was having trouble breathing.

Luck died in a hospital about 30 minutes after the family had placed the VoIP call.

"When purchasing a VoIP service, make an informed choice and speak to your provider and understand how they manage 911 calls," said Jody Robertson, spokesperson for E-Comm, which provides emergency communications services for much of the Lower Mainland.

"It's the provider's responsibility to ensure that the call is correctly routed to the appropriate 911 call centre."

The growth in cell, cable and VoIP services are posing challenges for 911 call-takers because these new services -- unlike land lines -- don't always provide the caller's phone number or address, said Robertson.

If a call becomes disconnected over a land line, the call-taker will still be able to dispatch emergency responders to the address, she added.

"But if you call from a web-based phone or a cellphone, the 911 call-taker is not presented with the same information."

Cable or VoIP services are used by 13.1 per cent of B.C. households.

Less than 25 per cent of Canadian homes rely solely on land-line service, according to Statistics Canada. In B.C., only 20.8 per cent of households rely on a land line.

E-Comm's Robertson said that VoIP users should also ensure that the Internet provider has their current address if they have moved since purchasing the service.

The Luck family moved to Calgary two years ago, and had recently moved to a different neighbourhood.

Robertson and B.C. Ambulance spokeswoman Kristy Hillen said they are unaware of similar incidents in B.C. involving VoIP emergency calls.

Hillen said that "it would be a very rare case when we wouldn't get the caller's address and phone number because that is the first thing our call-takers ask."

Communications and technology professor Gordon Gow said the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission needs to start looking at VoIP services and public safety and may have to turn to regulations to address the issue.

This incident, he said, "reinforces the point that individuals are increasingly really responsible for their own personal safety and need to be aware of the limits of these technologies when they are using them."

Officials with Comwave, a Toronto-based voice-over-Internet provider, say they are working to ensure such an incident never happens again.

Under CRTC regulations, VoIP companies such as Comwave must have a call centre to respond to 911 calls. Operators there are then required to direct that phone call to the appropriate 911 centre, based on what address the client has provided.