We have a small branch office that we are opening a few hours from here. We were planning on using a couple of IPT telephones remotely in this office. We are bit concerned about these users dialing 911, as we believe they will reach a 911 dispatcher in our main city, and not one in the city they are in.

Can we redirect 911 for these users to an emergency dispatcher in their area? I found a public number for the dispatcher. I do realize that 911 would no longer have their location, but that is better than reaching a dispatcher in the wrong city.


If we can't do that, we were thinking of making a system speed dial for it, so they can use that for emergency services. Does anyone have any suggestions on how we can make this better for our users?

Thanks!

Under stations, Option 16, CESID, enter 911 call back number.

If you have a PRI, then you can change the Caller ID output to 911 services. Then you can call 911 and let them know what the address is for that number. It will still go to the wrong city, but they will have all the correct information.

If you have POTS lines, setup a dedicated line in a group just for the IP sets dialing 911. Again just update the local 911 group.

They normally do not like you just dialing 911 for a administrative change, call the local police, and they should be able to direct your call.

They may not -like- you calling them - but I never fail to do so at new installs where it might be an issue (Nursing homes, medical facilities, etc)

I just say "Telephone Tech - Verifying 911 access on a new phone installation" - and sometimes I'll verify that they have the correct address. I just try to be quick, so as not to take up their time.

I've learned the hard way that Murphy will bite you if you fail to check these things.

This is not, of course, for admin changes... I agree, the local PD should be able to direct you ...

We have a PRI. Thanks for the replies. I had seen mention of the CESID in the programming manual, but wasn't sure exactly what it was for. After some googling, it makes more sense.

One last question: The main office and remote office are in different area codes. We have a number from AT&T with an area code that is the same as the remote office which forwards to a DID on our PRI. Can we set this number as the CESID for the IPTs eventhough we are in a different area code?


Thanks! Your replies have been a great help!

Shouldn't be a problem as long as you put in the correct area code into the field.

TEST IT!

Thanks for the information mj_wald. I appreciate it.

AT&T is telling me that this won't work, because the address is outside of the coverage for the selective router for 911 (They can't route the call to the correct PSAP because they aren't connected to it).

I was thinking that a way around this would be to get a single POTs line in the remote location or maybe get VoIP service and hook the ATA to our phone system. Is there a way that we can reroute 911 calls for just certain extensions? We have a CIX670. Would we have to get a analog card (So we could use POTS lines) or can the system make a VoIP call? Any suggestions here would be appreciated. Thanks!


Thanks!

Under stations, option 17 Emergency call group.

Then under trunks, Enhanced 911 you can select a OLG for each group.

We recently went thru this for 8 branch offices. Since we had to retain a single pots line at each location for fax/cc/alarm, I hung a red wall phone on the wall with a big 911 on it. Not very elegant - but 100% effective.

We got an analog card. We then hooked a Vonage device up to the analog card and use this only for 911 calls for our remote office (You can get the cheapest Home Plan from Vonage because their EULA states that as long as it isn't used for commercial purposes, you can use their home services).


We tested the system as well and 911 calls from this office go out our PRI and 911 calls from the remote office go out the Vonage device. I like this solution a lot more because it means anyone in the remote office can call 911 from their desk phones and we don't have to have any additional equipment in the remote office.