The Emergency Management Office is cautioning Nova Scotians that 911 calls placed over the Internet may not be as safe as emergency calls over a land line.

The caution comes a week after an 18-month-old Calgary boy died when his parents used an Internet phone service, called Voice Over Internet Protocol, to make an emergency call.

An ambulance was sent to the family’s former home in Mississauga, Ont., rather than their current Calgary address.

"The last thing we want to happen is for an emergency call to be misdirected and someone suffer harm as a result."

The organization said Internet calls can’t be tracked like traditional 911 calls because location and callback information aren’t transferred to the emergency operator.

The organization said some VoIP providers send calls to a national call centre first. The caller must confirm information with the national centre before the call is transferred to a local operator.