What is E911? 911 Emergency Service and How To update It
What is E911?
Short for Enhanced 911, a location technology advanced by the FCC that will enable mobile, or cellular, phones to process 911 emergency calls and enable emergency services to locate the geographic position of the caller. When a person makes a 911 call using a traditional phone with ground wires, the call is routed to the nearest public safety answering point (PSAP) that then distributes the emergency call to the proper services. The PSAP receives the caller's phone number and the exact location of the phone from which the call was made. Both mobile telephone and VoIP telephone service providers are required to connect 911 calls to the nearest local PSAP.
Click here to read our E911 Disclosure Statement.
How does E911 work?
RingByName allows each telephone line to be registered with an individual address or with your company's main business address. This allows remote employees who work outside your main location to have their telephone line to be registered with a unique physical location. When a user dials 911 from their telephone, RingByName will look up the physical address for that extension and pass it along to the closest PSAP for that address allowing for the appropriate delivery and routing of emergency services.
When must I update my E911 address?
RingByName suggests that your physical E911 address must be updated whenever you:
- Physically move the device to another street address
- You will be working from a remote location on a soft-phone or secondary device for an extended period of time
- The device is re-assigned to another user or location.
"You have reached the E911 message notification platform at Ring By Name. Please note this number is not monitored and does not record messages. If you have an emergency, please hang up and dial 911. If you have received a call or text message from this number, you have been listed as an emergency contact for your company's Ring By Name Telephone System. For more information contact your system administrator or the person in charge of configuring your phone system settings."
I am not in the United States, Canada or Puerto Rico. Do I need to register my telephone lines for E911 service?
No, if you are not in the USA, Canada, or Puerto Rico you do not need to register for E911 Service. You may opt-out of E911 service by selecting "I am not in the USA or Canada" in the E911 configuration settings.
How do I configure the E911 address on my account?
If you are the administrator of the account you may update the E911 Service address within the Administration panel within either the web app or the mobile application.
To update e911 on your RingByName system, begin by logging into the system administration panel. In the web application, click on your name in the top-right corner and click on the "Go to System Administration" link. Then select e911 from the list of options on the top row.
Each of your business office locations must use their own e911 address to ensure e911 services arrive in a timely fashion. In e911 locations, you can click 'add location' and add your office or home office address on the right. Once entered, select the DIDs/Users that belong to that location, and give them an e911 callback number that 911 services will have for callbacks. Be sure to select 'Verify & save' clicking on the verified address that appears to save your changes.
Each user/extension can be assigned an e911 business office location. In the 'User Locations' section you can assign the location of a user by clicking on the user, then selecting an address on the right. Addresses must already be created in the 'E911 Locations' section. Larger offices may want to use the 'E911 Multiple User Assignment' option below the user list in blue to update multiple users with an address for faster updates when offices are moved. Simply select the checkboxes matching the users for the location and remember to click 'save'.
Ringbyname e911 services are now compliant with Kari's Law!
RingByName have added notification features to our E911 platform in compliance with Kari's Law. This means, these notifications are sent by text, voice, or push notification each and every time 911 is dialed on the account and are meant to allow on-site staff (e.g. security or reception) to quickly direct first responders to where help has been requested. The following message is read by the system if anyone calls back the 911 notification number (855)-257-5522 who is unsure of the call, the following message will be announced to clarify what happened:
"You have reached the E911 message notification platform at Ring By Name. Please note this number is not monitored and does not record messages. If you have an emergency, please hang up and dial 911. If you have received a call or text message from this number, you have been listed as an emergency contact for your company's Ring By Name Telephone System. For more information contact your system administrator or the person in charge of configuring your phone system settings."
Additional information regarding Kari’s Law and the FCC’s implementing regulation details can be found here: https://www.fcc.gov/mlts-911-requirements
Ringbyname e911 internal notifications let you alert team members when someone dials 911.
In compliance with Kari's Law, each location under e911 Notifications can have users who receive an on-screen alert, a phone call, and/or an SMS message when any agent calls 911. Click on the location under the 'E911 Notifications' section. Type the name of the user you want getting notifications, then select the type of notification. You can even include cell phones not on your account to ensure that 911 issues are addressed safely and quickly. Phone call alerts will be attempted 3 times. The SMS alert is broken up into two messages, 1 alerting you of the e911 message, the other giving the user and address that called 911. Multiple users can be added, but only one user can be added at a time, for a max of 5 users per location.
Once users are added to receive 911 alerts, you can perform a test to these users so they can see what happens when someone calls 911. Pressing the 'test' button in blue will send a test message and also either call or send an SMS if these options were enabled. The 'Edit' option can be used to update these options further or remove the user from 911 notifications. Below you can see what the e911 test on-screen message looks like. SMS and phone calls announce a similar test announcement ""e911 Testing notification message". The actual alert advises which user/extension dialed 911 to any parties set to receive e911 notifications.
The e911 Disclosure statement is available in your Ringbyname Admin section as well. Be sure to read over it and print it if needed for your records.
Ringbyname offers e911 Labels that can be applied to devices or desks for your team. Select the 'print e911 stickers' option, then click on the 'view/print' option in blue on the right. This will open a print window for you that can be printed as normal labels or on sticker paper to adhere to each station.
Ringbyname also offers e911 location data printing for reference or record keeping. Selecting 'Print Location Assignments' will list out each location, its address, and the users at that address. On the far right you can select 'Print' in blue. This will open a print window for you that can be printed.
