How the latest 911 technology is making us safer than ever at work, home, and on-the-go

When your customer’s office is part of a 40 story high-rise, or a tiny room in an office building on a huge campus, accurately reaching  911 isn’t as simple as it is from a home address. Making sure help arrives at the right location (and not at a front desk half a mile away) can be a life-saving move. That’s why we at Bandwidth are so excited about the release of our new Dynamic Location Routing product for 911 Access.  Its targeted location technology paves the way for innovation with IoT devices, safety applications, and the offices of the future.

If you’re unfamiliar (like most of us!) with how 911 technology works behind the scenes, it’s not as simple as one might think to turn a simple three digit call into a life-saving experience. When 911 is dialed on a VoIP phone, your service provider uses the address information assigned to your phone number to send your call to the nearest emergency call center. In today’s mobile world, emergency call centers struggle to pinpoint caller location outside of a standard home or business phone without the right technology in place.  Dynamic Location Routing works to send a more targeted location, based on where the caller may be within a building, or address variation aside from the standard location associated with the particular phone number.

So let’s talk about what kind of products Dynamic Location Routing hopes to help usher into the world…

At home

Connected devices are popping up in homes across America.  Today most devices outside of the traditional home security system aren’t connected to the 911 system, but this could change in the coming years as devices and regulations evolve.  Dynamic Location Routing would give emergency call centers an additional heads up as to where in a house, or apartment building an emergency is located. Just as your security system knows when your back door is opened, your emergency dispatcher would know that a person in need is near that same back door.

At work

Just as our homes are becoming smarter with automation, so are our offices. Dynamic Location Routing is a crucial part of any modern office facility, providing crucial details to emergency call centers from the get-go. Imagine sending conference room names, floor numbers, or other specifics immediately.  It’s a safer world to work in.

On-the-go

Wearables like smartwatches are just beginning to take off, but present a great opportunity for making us safer, no matter where we may be. Additionally, personal safety smartphone apps like Punch Alert are already using this technology to provide a more targeted, accurate emergency location.

Want to learn a bit more? Take your 911 knowledge to the next level and watch this on-demand webinar featuring Bandwidth and Punch Alert!