
FCC to examine problems with 911 calling in enterprise systems [pdf] - newman8r
https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-346896A1.pdf
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js2
Ah, this is the opposite direction of what I thought: often "dial 9 to reach
an outside line" systems end up triggering accidental calls to 911, especially
since the person making the mistake just hangs up, in which case 911 is
required to send a responder out.

That's not what this is about at all, but rather that "systems may not support
direct 911 dialing, route 911 calls to the nearest 911 call center, or
transmit accurate information on the caller’s location or call-back number."
That is indeed a much more important issue!

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pavel_lishin
I'm surprised corporate phones don't just have an "outside call" button built
in, that transparently dials the magical incantation for you. No more mistakes
- just lift, press the "I am going to make a phone call now" button, and then
make the phone call.

~~~
DamonHD
Corps don't want to encourage (paid for) outside calls in many case?

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CaliforniaKarl
This is good.

Side note: If you have _any_ responsibility for your office's phone system, do
a 911 Test once a quarter.

[http://karl.kornel.us/2014/10/the-911-test/](http://karl.kornel.us/2014/10/the-911-test/)
(Shameless Plug!)

At my previous company (which got bought by another company, and so no longer
exists), we had a Cisco Unified Communication Manager (CUCM) 6.5 system. When
I started, we had three voice T1s at HQ: Two were AT&T ISDN voice T1s, and had
our 4000-DID block assigned to it. The second voice T1 was a Verizon CAS voice
T1, and was used for outbound calls only.

We could make 911 calls out through either provider, and that was how it was
set up: Prefer AT&T outbound; fall back to Verizon if the AT&T lines were full
or down. In both cases, the local 911 dispatch would receive out street
address when the call came through (I tested this).

Later on, as part of a move to AT&T Gigabit fiber, we replaced the two T1s
with SIP. Among all of the other issues we had, the 911 center suddenly
stopped getting our address information: The appropriate fields on their end
were just blank.

Talking to AT&T, the impression I got was that it was our problem to deal
with.

In the end, and with the merger looming, I switched our 911 config to the
Verizon backup (which I insisted we keep), so that 911 dispatch would get our
address.

So, again: Find out who at your $WORK is responsible for phones, and make sure
they do a 911 test every quarter!

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nxc18
This is super important. In an emergency you don't necessarily have time to
learn how to dial out.

For VOIP solutions that often come with the "don't call 911 it won't work"
caveat. That isn't good enough. In fact, maybe the FCC should take the
position that mishandling these calls by VoIP systems is equivalent to
blocking/impeding them. E.g. its bad practice (and I think illegal) for a cell
phone to be inoperable for emergency calls while locked.

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cm2187
Hum. 99% of users in a large company have a mobile phone. Feels a bit like a
corner case problem.

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tjohns
That creates a different problem, which is also dangerous.

In a large company, you want physical security to know when there's an
emergency. They can usually get to the scene much, much quicker, and will need
to let emergency services into the building anyway.

With landline corporate phones, they can be configured so that if the user
direct dials 911, they can flag the extension and flash an alarm in the
security office. Hotels often have a similar setup. (Avaya calls it "On-Site
Notification", Cisco calls it "Cisco Emergency Responder".)

If employees/guests are direct dialing 911 from a cell phone, building
security has no idea what's going on.

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tomswartz07
This is exactly the case.

Further, the parent comment is ignoring certain companies and agencies that
explicitly prohibit cell phones on site.

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bungie4
Their are companies out there that answer 911 calls originating form VOIP
systems. I work for one that handles provides those services to nearly a 1
million VOIP users. We handle a LOT of V911 calls everyday.

Also, with the growing popularity of providing Wifi telephony, their are
bigger 911 issues in the offing.

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sageabilly
"systems may not support direct 911 dialing, _route 911 calls to the nearest
911 call center, or transmit accurate information on the caller’s location or
call-back number_." Points #2 and 3 are what's critical here.

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bungie4
I'm aware, I don't want to use the comments as advertising, but these problems
have been addressed in a specialized manner with the services we provide. Not
that they can't be wrong (location) but protocols are in place for dealing
with those that are/maybe.

Does it need to be fixed? Yes! but its wrong to assume that V911 is broken at
a wholesale level. The same issues face E911 as well. The entire location
system (Long/Lat) does not work well when altitude is brought into play. Their
are standards in place for VOIP systems to transmit their exact NETWORK
location, but it rarely implemented.

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sova
Bout damn time

