Claims

1. A method for determining the location of a VoIP caller, said method comprising the step of:receiving an emergency call from a VoIP phone, said VoIP phone accessing the internet via a VoIP enabling device;receiving a device identifier of said VoIP enabling device, through which said call from said VoIP device originated;comparing said device identifier against a pre-defined table of device identifiers, each device identifier in said table having an associated physical location; andreturning said physical location of said VoIP enabling device during said call from said VoIP phone.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said VoIP enabling device is a WiFi router.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein said device identifier is the MAC (Media Access Control) address of said WiFi router.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein said pre-defined table of device identifiers, includes a table of MAC (Media Access Control) addresses for registered WiFi routers and a corresponding physical location of said registered WiFi routers.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4, further comprising the step of sending invitations to owners of said WiFi routers requesting their physical locations.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5, where in the event said table of MAC address does not include an entry corresponding to the MAC address associated with said incoming VoIP call, further comprising the step of making a record of the transaction and sending an invitation to an owner of said WiFi router requesting its physical location.

7. A method for handling VoIP emergency calls where first and second call-paths are available, said first call-path connecting through the internet and said second call path non connecting through the internet, said method comprising the steps of:receiving an entered dial string for a call from a user of a VoIP device;parsing said dial string dialed by said user; andif said user dials an emergency dial string, re-routing said call to the emergency service provider from said first call-path connecting through the internet to said second call-path not connecting through the internet.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein said emergency dial string is 9-1-1.

9. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein said first internet call-path is via a WiFi router.

10. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein said second non-internet call-path is the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network).

11. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein said second non-internet call-path is cellular telephone path.

12. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein if said call is sent via said cellular telephone path, then the originating location of said call is determine using either one of cell tower triangulation or GPS (Global Positioning System).

13. A method for determining the location of a VoIP caller, said method comprising the step of:receiving an emergency call from a VoIP phone, said VoIP phone accessing the internet via one of a plurality of VoIP enabling devices, where each of said plurality of VoIP enabling devices is within range of said VoIP phone;receiving device identifiers of said VoIP enabling devices, including both said VoIP enabling device through which said call from said VoIP device originated and at least one other VoIP enabling device which is not used for the call handling;receiving signal strength indications from said VoIP enabling devices through which said call from said VoIP device originated and said at least one other VoIP enabling device which is not used for the call handling; comparing said signal strengths of said VoIP enabling devices through which said call from said VoIP device originated and said at least one other VoIP enabling device which is not used for the call handling; anddetermining a location of said VoIP phone based on the VoIP enabling device that has the highest signal strength.

14. The method as claimed in claim 13, where said step of determining said location is performed by comparing a device identifier against a pre-defined table of device identifiers, each device identifier in said table having an associated physical location.

15. The method as claimed in claim 13 wherein said step of determining a location of said VoIP phone based on the VoIP enabling device that has the highest signal strength is done based on said VoIP enabling device that is not used for the call handling.