911 FCC Compliance

From Bandipedia

With today's rapidly growing technology, everyone carries a mobile device. The emergency number, 911, is used to call the police or other emergency response units. At the emergency call center, calls come through a computerized phone system and automatically go to the next available operator, who then verifies the caller's location, determines the nature of the emergency, and decides which emergency response team should be notified; however, outdated systems nationwide are unable to trace wireless calls, meaning public safety agencies may not be able to find you in the event of an emergency. This is where E911 compliance comes into play.

The E911 system will help emergency dispatchers locate people calling from mobile devices. E911 solves these problems by working with mobile phone companies to locate a caller within 111 yards (100 meters) of the caller’s geographic location. Also, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) mandated that mobile phone service providers in the United States must relay any 911 phone call, regardless of the caller’s service provider.

E911 was fully operational in 2001 and service providers were required by the FCC to become compliant with the system. Another service that has been affected by the E911 Compliance is VoIP. The VoIP E911 Order requires all interconnected VoIP providers to transmit all 911 calls to the appropriate Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP), transmit a call-back number and transmit the caller’s “registered location” to the PSAP.

The “registered location” of a subscriber must be obtained by the interconnected VoIP provider prior to initiation of service (as well as from current subscribers)at no charge to the customer. The “registered location” is required in lieu of providing Automatic Location Information (ALI), because ALI is not yet widely available for VoIP services. ALI automatically determines the caller’s geographic location and reports it to the PSAP. In order to provide this E911 capability, VoIP providers must interconnect with the Wireline E911 Network either through an agreement with a LEC that already is connected to the network or by directly connecting to a LEC.

When choosing a carrier for your VoIP and /or Wireless needs, it is important to choose a provider who is E911-compliant because it could one day save a life.


From the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Web site:

  • "The number of 911 calls placed by people using wireless phones has more than doubled since 1995, to over 50 million a year. Public safety personnel estimate that about 30% of the millions of 911 calls they receive daily are placed from wireless phones, and that percentage is growing. For many Americans, the ability to call 911 for help in an emergency is one of the main reasons they own a wireless phone. Other wireless 911 calls come from “Good Samaritans” reporting traffic accidents, crimes or other emergencies. Prompt delivery of these and other wireless 911 calls to public safety organizations benefits the public by promoting safety of life and property. While wireless phones can be an important public safety tool, they also create unique challenges for public safety and emergency response personnel and for wireless service providers."


From Wikipedia.com:

  • "The nature of IP makes it difficult to geographically locate network users. Emergency calls, therefore, cannot easily be routed to a nearby call center, and are impossible on some VoIP systems. Moreover, in the event that the caller is unable to give an address, emergency services may be unable to locate them in any other way. Following the lead of mobile phone operators, several VoIP carriers are already implementing a technical work-around. For instance, one large VoIP carrier requires the registration of the physical address the VoIP line will be used at. When you dial the emergency number for your country, they will route it to the appropriate local system. They also maintain their own emergency call center that will take non-routable emergency calls (made, for example, from a software based service that is not tied to any particular physical location) and then will manually route your call once learning your physical location. The United States government had set a deadline, requiring VoIP carriers to implement E911; however, the deadline is being appealed by several of the leading VoIP companies. This is a different situation with IPBX systems, where these corporate systems often have full E911 capabilities built into the system."


For reference and information:

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