What is Enhanced 911?

Enhanced 911 (E911) is an enhanced version of the 911 system used in the United States for calls seeking emergency assistance such as police, fire, and ambulance services. Calls to 911 are routed to a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) – E911 identifies the location of the caller and routes the call to the appropriate local PSAP, and provides the PSAP with location information in order to speed response. Landline and cell service providers both are required by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to support E911 where it is available.call. 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.

Legal Requirements for E911

There are many rules and regulations that are constantly developing in the 911 space, and these will vary state-to-state. There is, however, one constant rule for all states: any building with multiple floors must be broken up into different locations for emergency responders. In the United States, Kari’s Law and the RAY BAUM’S Act require that e911 information is provided.  For more information, see the FCC definition of e911 (https://www.fcc.gov/general/9-1-1-and-e9-1-1-services). 

Two changes that have undergone recently which have affected the rule books are Kari’s Law and RAY BAUM’S Act. 

• Kari’s Law: Requires the direct dialing of 911 be enabled without having to dial a prefix to reach an outside line in enterprise environments. Kari’s Law also directs the FCC to develop necessary 911 calling regulations for the multi-line telephone systems (MLTS) that are commonly used for communications services in buildings, like hotels, hospitals, and most office campuses. 
• RAY BAUM’S Act: (Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services Act) Requires the Commission to strongly consider adopting a rule to create a unique location identification with each 911 call placed, regardless of the technology platform or device used. This would allow 911 call centers to receive the automatic location information of the caller, and dispatch to emergency responders more quickly.  

Static E911 vs Dynamic Location Routing (DLR)

Prior to v42.1, a client's e911 address information was configured using static e911. Using static e911, each user has a 911 Caller ID number. That number is then registered to a static service address with the carrier and is stored in a secure database. When the user dials 911, the 911 Caller ID is displayed, and the 911 Caller ID is sent along with the registered service address to the PSAP.

Dynamic Location Routing uses Presence Information Data Format Location Objects (PIDF-LO) to send the calling information within the call itself, which allows increased granularity for large organizations like college universities & hospitals, as well as flexibility for mobile works who change locations often. 

Both Static E911 and DLR can be used simultaneously if desired on the platform. When an outbound call to 911 is made, the phone system will check if the user has a DLR address configured. If so, the call will automatically pass the PIDF-LO information as needed. If DLR is not configured, the call will fail over to static E911 and use the address registered and stored by the carrier, if any.

Steps for Configuring Dynamic Location Routing

1. Create an Emergency Address
2. Create an Emergency Endpoint
3. Optionally,
   1. Configure Notifications for e911 Calling