E911 and VoIP Telephony

What Is E911?

In Trouble? Dial 9-1-1

When you dial 911 on your regular phone, you are connected with the nearest PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point), which routes your call to the proper emergency services like the fire department, police, etc. As your wired phone number is hooked to the national 911 network, your call is automatically sent to the PSAP nearest to your phone location and the emergency personnel can respond immediately to it.

911 emergency calling has saved numerous lives from the time it started in 1969, becoming a part of the American way of life. Over the years, the communication system has seen many changes and upgrades. one such improvement is E911

E911
E911, short for Enhanced 911, is an improvement over the basic 911 calling system. It uses the location technology to pinpoint the physical location of the phone from which the emergency call originates. In most part of America, when you dial 911, your name and street address appear on the screen when the phone is picked up by the operator at the other end.

In this way E911 saves a lot of precious time which otherwise would be wasted in getting the location details from the caller. The only thing that caller has to convey is the emergency situation he is facing and the call is directed to the appropriate emergency department. Because of this, even in situations when the caller is not able to speak, the message of emergency reaches the PSAP.Click here for tips on 911 emergency calling.

E911 and VoIP Telephony
The traditional telephone system is connected to the national 911 network. When someone dials 911 on it, the call location is instantly identified because the landline phone number is tied to a physical location such as your home or office. But with VoIP the scene is different. Your broadband telephone number does not relate with your location. Moreover, you can have a broadband phone number with an area code different from where you live. (See VoIP Features). When you make a 911 call on such a phone, your call may reach hundreds of miles away from where you live.

This is why VoIP telephony lacked E911 facility in its early days. Now because of the FCC ruling that the wireless phones also should have this facility in place by a certain date, the VoIP service providers have started offering this service. However, when signing for a VoIP service, do look at the kind of E911 service you would be getting. Also don't forget to register your address on the VoIP phone web site at the time of joining. This should be updated when you take your broadband phone to another location.

Also visit the FCC site for more information.