Enhanced 9-1-1 (e911)
Enhanced 911 (E911) is a service that allows emergency operators to provide better assistance to people calling 9-1-1 from their mobile phones. It provides emergency operators with more specific information about your location and displays your mobile phone number to emergency operators.
When you call 9-1-1 from your mobile phone:
- Provide your complete mobile phone number, including the area code, so that information can be passed on to emergency operators
- Give your location and the location of the emergency
- Stay on the line with the operator (9-1-1 calls are not billed)
- If disconnected, leave your phone on for call-backs
- If you’re underground or too far from a network antenna, your signal quality may be affected and you may not be able to connect to the network
To avoid making accidental emergency calls, don't program 9-1-1 into your phone.
Canadians depend on the provision of reliable and effective 9-1-1 services to seek help in an emergency. As technology and consumers’ needs evolve, so do consumers’ expectations related to 9-1-1 services. In the coming years, telecommunications networks across Canada, including the networks used to make 9-1-1 calls, will continue to transition to Internet Protocol (IP) technology.
This will enable Canadians to access new, enhanced, and innovative 9-1-1 services with IP-based capabilities, referred to as next-generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1) services. For example, Canadians could stream video from an emergency incident, send photos of accident damage or a fleeing suspect, or send personal medical information, including accessibility needs, which could greatly emergency responders.
New functions are:
- Unified NG9-1-1 PSAP interoperability and selective transfer across the country through inter-ESInet connectivity
- Real-time text to 9-1-1 (RTT9-1-1)
- Telematics such as vehicle-initiated advanced automatic crash notifications
- Real-time video calling
- Transmission of additional forms of data such as pictures, videos, medical records and floor plans
- Other methods of IP-based communications