Ofcom: VoIP services must connect 999 calls

You'll soon be able to make emergency calls using your VoIP phone

VoIP services, including the likes of Skype, Vonage and

Jajah

, must connect 999/112 calls to emergency services in the future,

Ofcom

has ruled.

From 8 September 2008, VoIP providers must let users call emergency services. As it stands, you can use VoIP services for most standard calls, but if you're in need of the emergency services you'll have to call from a mobile phone or landline telephone. This is now set to change, and any VoIP provider that lets its users connect to normal landlines will have to connect to the emergency services too.

Critical delays

Ofcom said that the majority of VoIP users in the UK (78 per cent) were unaware or unsure about whether their VoIP service enabled them to call emergency services. This could cause critical delays in contacting the police, fire brigade, ambulance service or coastguard in an emergency.

The problem with using VoIP services is that it is difficult to locate callers geographically, unlike with landline or mobile numbers. Emergency calls cannot easily be routed to a nearby call centre, which is why most services don't currently connect these calls.

"As new voice services develop and become more mainstream, regulation must evolve too. In the future, consumers will be confident that if they can make calls to ordinary national numbers using their VoIP service then they will be able to call 999 or 112 in an emergency," Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards said in a statement.

Latest in Phones
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge on display the January 22, 2025 Galaxy Unpacked event.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge colors seemingly revealed in new video, and there’s another sign of an imminent launch
Apple iPhone 16 Pro REVIEW
The iPhone 17 Air looks impressively slim in this new comparison image, but that just makes me more worried about the specs
Two Android phones on a green and blue background showing Google Messages
Google Messages just added a fun upgrade to one of its best chat features
Samsung Galaxy S25 on a blue deals background
Bored with your iPhone? The ‘incredible’ Samsung Galaxy S25 just hit a record-low price in the Amazon Spring Sale
Samsung Galaxy S25 from the front
The Now Bar on Samsung One UI 7 is about to get a lot more useful – and could soon match Live Activities on iOS
An iPhone running iOS 18 on a purple and blue background
iOS 18.4 could launch soon with a major upgrade to your iPhone’s notifications
Latest in News
Garmin clippd integration
Garmin's golf watches just got a big software integration upgrade to help you improve your game
Robert Downey Jr reveals himself as Doctor Doom to a delighted crowd at San Diego Comic-Con 2024
Marvel is currently making a major announcement about Avengers: Doomsday's cast on YouTube, and I think it's going to be a long-winded reveal
Samsung QN90F on yellow background
Samsung announces US prices for its 2025 mini-LED TV lineup, and it’s good and bad news
Nintendo Switch Lite
Forget the Nintendo Switch 2, the original Switch is getting one last hurrah in a surprise Nintendo Direct tomorrow
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge on display the January 22, 2025 Galaxy Unpacked event.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge colors seemingly revealed in new video, and there’s another sign of an imminent launch
Microsoft Copiot Studio deep reasoning and agent flows
Microsoft reveals OpenAI-powered Copilot AI agents to bosot your work research and data analysis