Compliance with Federal E-911 Guidelines

Our Hosted VoIP PBX phone service complies with all regulatory standards including NENA’s i1 and i2 and the IP-Enabled Voice Communications and Public Safety Act of 2007.

E-911 & VoIP

E911 (enhanced 911) is a technology that’s designed to give ordinary landline telephones the ability to transmit critical location data quickly and transparently, as well as to provide accurate emergency-calling capabilities to nontraditional-telephony devices such as mobile and VoIP phones. The technology automatically connects callers to the closest PSAP (public safety answering point), the emergency-service dispatch centers that respond to 911 calls. There are more than 6,000 primary and secondary PSAPs across the U.S.

The need for E911 technology spiked when devices that don’t use a dedicated phone line began gaining popularity. A mobile-phone user, for example, can be located virtually anywhere, making it impossible for a service provider to determine the location of the nearest and most appropriate PSAP. VoIP subscribers, on the other hand, often use phone numbers assigned to locations many miles away from their actual physical presences — sometimes even in other countries — also making it often impossible for service providers to supply an appropriate PSAP connection.

Evolution of E-911 & VoIP

Like mobile-phone users in the 1990s, VoIP subscribers in the early 21st century began requesting landline-equivalent 911 calling capabilities on their phones. Demands from the public, the media and lawmakers for VoIP E911 service quickly mounted after several highly publicized cases in which crime victims were unable to call for police help because their VoIP phones lacked 911 calling capabilities.

In 2005, the FCC began requiring VoIP service providers to offer localized E911 service to their customers. Under current FCC rules, all interconnected VoIP providers must automatically supply E911 service to all of their customers as a standard, mandatory feature without customers having to specifically request this service. VoIP providers may not allow their customers to “opt-out” of E911 service. VoIP providers must transmit each E911 call, as well as a callback number and the caller’s registered physical location, to the PSAP.

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