VegaStream to permit 999 calls on their VoIP service

Ofcom, a communications regulator conducted a research on making 999 calls with VoIP. They found out that 46 per cent of household VoIP lines cannot make emergency 999 calls. Another discovery was that 78 per cent of VoIP users did not know that they cannot call the emergency services with the 999 number. It was after this research that Vegastream developed a new version of its VoIP Gateway product. This product allows you to make 999 calls over VoIP lines.

In the light of this research findings, Ofcom published proposals that will make it absolutely necessary for 999 to be accessible through VoIP. Once you call the 999 number, the caller's location can easily be made known to the emergency services. This is a problem with VoIP because its service does not give one this information. But with VegaStream's new system this problem has been overcome just by routing a 999 call through a standard PSTN instead of the VoIP network.

Another benefit is that the system can also switch to PSTN once a broadband connection fails. This makes the VoIP network more resilient. The number of VoIP lines on the product is what will actually determine its cost. You can get 120 lines for about £275.