911 Information

Important 911 Information 

We want to make sure that you are aware of important differences in the way 9-1-1 service operates with a VoIP system when compared with traditional telephone service. Here’s what you need to keep in mind:

Differences between traditional 9-1-1 service and VoIP phone 9-1-1 

With traditional phone services, your 9-1-1 call is sent directly to the nearest emergency response centre. With VoIP phone service, your 9-1-1 call is forwarded to a third-party service provider that will automatically or manually route your call to the emergency response centre.

Remember to provide your location 

Because you can move your VoIP phone between locations and because, for technical reasons, the emergency operator may not have your name, location or contact information available, you must immediately inform the emergency operator of your location and contact particulars any time you call 9-1-1. Do not risk sending police or ambulance services to the wrong location.

Be prepared during any service interruption 

VoIP phone service depends not only on your continued subscription (and payment) for the service, but also on Internet connectivity and power to function. In the event of power, network, or Internet outages (including congestion), or if your service is disconnected or suspended due to non-payment, you may experience a failure, disruption or delay in your 9-1-1 service. We recommend that you keep an alternative phone service (such as a cell phone) handy to increase the reliability of your access to emergency services during any service interruption.

Do not disconnect 

Until you are told to do so by an emergency dispatcher, do not disconnect your 9-1-1 call. If you are inadvertently disconnected, call back immediately. 

Ooma will attempt to provide the emergency operator with your service address, so please ensure that your information on file with us is always accurate and updated. If you do not do this (for example, if you are unable to speak during a 9-1-1 call), the emergency operator may assume that you are calling from the last registered address.

Inform other users 

You must notify members of your household and other potential users of your VoIP phone service of the nature and limitations of 9-1-1 emergency calls. To make this easier, attach the included stickers in a visible location on your telephone sets.

What this looks like in the Ooma Management Portal 

Every emergency caller ID sent out over the Ooma Enterprise network needs to be properly registered against the physical address the phone is located at for E911 service in the ‘Phone Numbers’ app. If the account has just the one account-wide emergency caller ID then this will be the only number you are required to register. 

However, if you have two offices with two different caller IDs, you would need to register the correct address for each location. Furthermore, if there are more emergency caller IDs set to an individual user/s or device/s (for example, remote users) then all of those numbers will need to be registered with the correct physical address too. If you have a remote user who does not have their own direct number, please purchase one and assign it as their emergency call ID. 

This ensures that any emergency call made routes to the nearest appropriate response centre. Not only is it vital for a quick response time, it’s also required by law and it is your responsibility to ensure that this information is correct and up to date. 

Any unregistered emergency call placed over our servers will incur a $100.00 fine each time. 

Example: 

In the image to the left, you can see that Luke has an emergency Caller ID set up to be his personal DID on his user’s settings thus overriding the account-wide Caller ID. Now he needs to register that number for E911 services to be compliant. 

In the second you can see a typical DID list from the ‘Phone Numbers’ app. Clicking on the blue ‘E911’ link will bring up an additional box that prompts you to enter the physical address and company/caller name that needs to be attached to your call in the event of a 911 call. Once the number has successfully registered the ‘E911’ link should turn green. 

Remote Locations 

Sometimes you’re going to want to register numbers for E911 service but you don’t have a physical address to assign it to. For instance, Forestry and Mining operations and things like campsites may be a long way away from the nearest response center. However it is still just as important (if not more so) to register these numbers too. 

In this case, you would need to determine the nearest city where emergency assistance would be sent from in the event of an emergency. If you are not sure, then getting in touch with the local Land Authority or the calling the non-emergency police lines for neighbouring communities will help you find who has jurisdiction over your location. 

Once you have that information, you will need to enter that city into the ‘City’ field along with the nearest valid postcode in the ‘Postal Code’ field and GPS coordinates entered into ‘Address Line 1’ and ‘Address Line 2’. Lastly you will need to give a brief description to us of the location that will attach to the records with the E911 provider (ie. oil camp or hydro electric camp, etc) 

Limitations of liability 

Ooma Enterprise and Voxter’s terms of service limit and disclaim liability related to VoIP 9-1-1 service, so please read these carefully.  

https://www.voxter.com/e911-legal-information/ 

For our general terms of services follow this link. 

https://ca.ooma.com/legal/terms/