E911 listings are required by regulatory governing the operation of telecommunication services in Canada, the United States as well as certain other countries. In order to be in compliance, providers must ensure they have taken all reasonable steps to list callerID's with applicable addresses for emergency services.

Listings are not required for each DID (incoming phone number). However listings are required for each and every outbound callerID to be used. Here are some examples of PBX deployments:


SCENARIO 1: Single Location Single outbound CallerID


The most basic configuration would be a single office location where all extensions have the same outbound CallerID. In this case, the single outbound CallerID needs to be listed.



SCENARIO 2: Single Location Multiple outbound CallerID's


A single location where each department and/or user (extension) needs its own outbound CallerID can be configured in one of two ways:

1) Each outbound CallerID should be listed, even though they would all have the same address. Sometimes large deployments where departments are accessed through different entrances should always be listed individually.

2) Some PBX systems allow for an emergency CallerID. This means that although each department and/or user (extension) may have different outbound CallerID's, the PBX can override the CallerID with a different one when 911 is dialed. In this case only one CallerID needs to be listed.


SCENARIO 3: Multi Location Single outbound CallerID


If a PBX system is shared between multiple businesses at different addresses or different locations, each location must be listed uniquely to ensure 911 responders have the correct address information. If all locations have the same outbound CallerID, some additional configurations are necessary.

As stated in the previous example, some PBX systems have an emergency CallerID field. In this example, we will need to assign DID's to each location even though they may never be used. Then that DID must be forced as the outbound CallerID whenever 911 is dialed. As such, each of these CallerID's can now be listed with the correct location information.


SCENARIO 4: Multi Location Multiple outbound CallerID's

A more complex scenario is multi location system with multiple outbound CallerID's.

If each location has a single outbound CallerID, the solution is simply to ensure that each outbound CallerID is listed with the correct location information. However if each location has multiple outbound CallerID's (ex: departments, users etc), then the solutions are as follows:

1) Each outbound CallerID at each location should be listed, even though they may all have the same address. Sometimes large deployments where departments are accessed through different entrances should always be listed individually.

2) Some PBX systems allow for an emergency CallerID. This means that although each department and/or user (extension) may have different outbound CallerID's, the PBX can override the CallerID with a different one when 911 is dialed from a specific location. In this case only one CallerID per location needs to be listed.


IMPORTANT NOTES

  • Never assume that a 911 call will not be placed.

  • Always ensure proper location information is listed, and updated from time to time if the user location(s) move.

  • Never assume that you will be able to provide address information on a 911 call. While E911 services always confirm your location, in some instances where the caller is unable to speak, emergency services are dispatched to the listed location information.
  • Ensure CallerID is always in proper format. Ex:4165551212
  • For new deployments, you may perform a test call to ensure address information is being received by the 911 callcenter properly. This is especially important in multi location and multi CallerID scenarios. But before making a test call, please contact IXICA support team for instructions on how to perform an authorized test.
  • Always ensure 911 listings are complete before allowing users access to the system. In some cases 911 has been dialed within minutes of a system going live.
  • An unprovisioned 911 call (911 calls from a CallerID not listed) will result in a high fine per call, as well as may be in violation of CRTC regulations for failure to list.