FibreTel voice services use Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology. This covers every voice product we offer — residential home phone, business voice lines, hosted PBX, and SIP trunks. VoIP 9-1-1 calling behaves differently than traditional copper telephone service, and Canadian regulations require us to make those differences explicit before you rely on it in an emergency.
A note for context: this isn’t a FibreTel quirk. The Canadian telecom industry has been transitioning to VoIP delivery over fibre for years, and any major carrier delivering voice over fibre-to-the-home publishes a similar disclosure. The copper TDM network that powered “traditional” home phone service is being actively decommissioned in most of Canada, and the handset in a modern fibre-wired home is a VoIP endpoint whether it’s FibreTel’s, a national carrier’s, or a smaller regional provider’s. The limitations below apply to any fibre-delivered voice service — we’re just obligated to spell ours out.
1. How Our 911 Service Works
FibreTel uses E9-1-1 (enhanced 911). When you dial 9-1-1, your call is routed to the public-safety answering point (PSAP) for the civic address on file for your account. The PSAP sees your registered service address automatically and dispatches accordingly.
Every FibreTel voice line is locked to the civic address of the physical install — voice equipment is provisioned to your specific fibre drop, and the service is not designed to be moved. If an address change is needed (building sale, suite renumbering, physical move), contact us and we’ll update the 9-1-1 registration before the change takes effect.
2. When 911 May Not Work
Emergency calling depends on the equipment we installed at your service address and on your connection being up. 9-1-1 may not work if any of the following happen:
- Power outage: our equipment requires electrical power. If building power is lost and the fibre equipment has no battery backup, voice service (including 9-1-1) will be unavailable until power is restored. FibreTel offers Keepalive, an optional $10/mo residential / $20/mo business battery-backup addon that keeps the fibre equipment powered for up to 2 hours through building outages — see below for details.
- Internet / fibre outage: VoIP runs over your internet connection. If the fibre link goes down for any reason (our network, building electrical, rodent damage, maintenance), voice service — including 9-1-1 — will not be available until connectivity is restored.
- Equipment damage or tampering: our voice equipment is not designed to be unplugged, relocated, or modified. If the fibre equipment or inside wiring is damaged or disconnected, 9-1-1 will not route correctly.
- Service suspended for non-payment: suspended accounts cannot place calls, including 9-1-1.
3. Business Voice & SIP Trunking
Business customers using FibreTel voice lines or SIP trunks are responsible for ensuring the 9-1-1 registration on file matches the physical location where calls are placed. If your handsets or soft clients are deployed at a location different from the registered service address (for example, a remote worker using a softphone), 9-1-1 dispatch will go to the registered address — not the caller’s physical location. Reach out if you need to split a trunk across multiple premises so we can register each endpoint separately.
4. Backup Emergency Options
We strongly recommend maintaining a cellular phone as a backup for emergencies. Cellular service does not depend on your home or office internet or power and continues to work during local outages.
In addition, FibreTel offers the optional Keepalive battery-backup addon ($10/mo residential, $20/mo business) that powers the fibre equipment through building outages for up to 2 hours. Keepalive meaningfully reduces the power-outage failure mode above and lets 9-1-1 remain available during most outages, but it is not a substitute for cellular backup — it doesn’t protect against a fibre cut, an extended outage beyond its runtime, or equipment failure.
5. Acknowledgement
By subscribing to any FibreTel voice service you acknowledge the limitations of VoIP 9-1-1 described above. FibreTel is not liable for any failure of 9-1-1 to work during an outage, power failure, equipment damage, or when the registered service address does not match the physical calling location. These limitations apply even when your service is otherwise operating normally.
6. Questions?
If you have questions about 9-1-1 or need to update a service-address registration, contact us at fibretel.ca/contact.