Overview
Enhanced 911 (also known as E911) is a safety feature that protects Internet-based phone users by providing location data that otherwise would be lacking from an emergency call.
History of E911
The FCC says, "The Wireless Communications and Public Safety Act of 1999 (911 Act) took effect on October 26, 1999. The purpose of the 911 Act is to improve public safety by encouraging and facilitating the prompt deployment of a nationwide, seamless communications infrastructure for emergency services... The FCC's wireless Enhanced 911 (E911) rules seek to improve the effectiveness and reliability of wireless 911 services by providing 911 dispatchers with additional information on wireless 911 calls. The FCC's wireless E911 rules apply to all wireless licensees, broadband Personal Communications Service (PCS) licensees, and certain Specialized Mobile Radio (SMR) licensees".
Location in a Changing World
The strength of a softphone is that it can be run in many different places and situations, but this also means it's difficult for emergency services to locate callers on the other end of the line. The E911 feature allows you to define detailed location information on hardware devices so that responders can rapidly get help to people who are in need.
E911 data provides both a verified address for a phone number, and additional location data meant to pinpoint exactly where the call is, such as “Second Floor, Room 203”.
Legal Compliance
The E911 feature is not only smart to implement, but may be a legal requirement as well. In the United States, there are two major precedents that reflect today's world: Kari's Law and Ray Baum's Act.
Kari's Law requires direct dialing to 911 from an MLTS (a system which utilizes multiple telephone lines such as at a hotel or an office building). Callers seeking emergency services should never need to "dial out" of a phone system first, or use a prefix before dialing 911. Furthermore, the MLTS vendor or manufacturer must also provide an alert to a centralized area (such as a front desk) when one of their phones dialed 911. This ensures that the caller will receive immediate attention from both 911 responders, and the appropriate personnel at their location (such as if the incident happened in a workplace).
RAY BAUM'S Act requires that a 911 caller's validated location (such as street address) is dispatched to the 911 operator upon receiving the call. This is regardless of the technology used to dial 911. Any type of device, on any type of network, should dispatch location information when dialing 911.
Understanding Static E911 v. DLR E911
First of all, Clear Clouds uses 3rd party vendors to provide back-end services for E911.
Dialing emergency services is extremely effective when the emergency responders can immediately identify the caller's location. If the caller is incapacitated, cannot speak, or simply is too panicked to accurately describe where they are, then in all of these cases, the caller will heavily rely on the accuracy of location services.
Today there are two main E911 configurations for phone system providers: Static E911 and DLR E911. Think of the former as providing a static caller location attached to caller ID, and the latter as providing a dynamic location attached to the caller.
Static E911
This is considered the legacy, or failover, E911 configuration. Each caller is given a Caller ID number. This number is then registered to a static location, and this location is securely stored in emergency service databases. The caller dials 911 and the emergency operators are able to then pull the caller ID's stored location. Notifications that a 911 call has been made can be sent to the local organization via an automated phone call, an email, or via a SIP message that appears on the screens of supported phones.
DLR E911
This is the latest recommendation, provided that businesses also configure a failover to Static E911 services. Each caller is given a granular location that can be defined by domain, site, their individual device, and can even be as specific as "the last cubicle at the end of the hall". When an IP address change is detected in the Clear Clouds Portal, or on SNAPmobile Web, the user will be prompted to update their current location, which is one of the ways their location is kept updated. Unlike Static E911, DLR E911 location information does not need to be stored in emergency service databases. Instead, it's sent at the time of the call by using PIDF-LO (Presence Information Data Format Location Object). This is included within the SIP header, allowing for targeted location accuracy. Notifications that a 911 call has been made can still be sent to the local organization via an automated phone call, an email, or via a SIP message that appears on the screens of supported phones.
Note that DLR E911 is not supported for SIP trunks.