VoIP Upgrade Causes 911 Routing Problems

At least four counties in New York state are experiencing routing problems for 911 calls made from people using Time Warner Cable VoIP service, apparently the result of a database upgrade. The problems started about one week ago, and include blank caller ALI displays, and calls being routed to a call center in Colorado operated by Intrado, which must then transfer the call back to New York. Last week a 911 call reporting a house fire was delayed at least 44 seconds by the transfer process, and a medical emergency was delayed by 38 seconds. Jefferson County 911 director John Pumber says he’s not received any response from Time Warner to his inquiries about the problems. But officials of the cable TV company told a reporter they were planning a series of meetings with 911 directors to review the routing problems and solve them. The company has recently updated its VoIP network and the problem is related to a Colorado database update. Time Warner said the problems are occuring “in very rare cases.” Read more about the situation here. Update: Time Warner officials said “data conversion” was responsible for the routing glitches, which sent up to 60 percent of 911 calls to the Intrado call center instead of to county PSAPs. Read about about the solution here. Within a week the routing problem was occurring less frequently, but calls still were not displaying an ESN.