Are you struggling to stay compliant with the FCC rules and requirements? Partnering with a quality VoIP provider can lift the burden of staying compliant on your own when the rules and regulations are constantly changing—we are sure it’s difficult to keep up. Loop Communications monitors the changing regulations and ensures that our MSP partners and customers are fully compliant with all regulatory requirements.  One of the most important regulatory concerns for a business phone system is the proper implementation of the 911 emergency.  As part of the service with Loop Communications, customers’ E911 addresses and the notification information is agreed upon during the onboarding process and confirmed again after installation by having the customer dial 933 which will read back the physical address associated with the phone number.

Business E911 implementation just became more complicated with the passage of Kari’s Law which adds additional requirements for E911 services for any provider of telecommunications services including VoIP.  The law is named for Kari Hunt Dunn because she died in a hotel and her 9-year-old daughter was unable to reach emergency services because she didn’t know she had to dial “9” to reach an outside line before calling 911.

Kari’s law includes the following requirements and the compliance deadline for new installations was February 16, 2020, so make sure you are working with a phone service provider that knows the current requirements and has fully implemented them to keep you and your employees safe.

The following are new requirements based on Kari’s Law and Ray Baum’s Act:

  • Callers to be able to reach emergency services (911) without the need to dial a prefix for an outside number first
  • E911 registrations must be able to pass along more specific address information such as building, floor, suite
  • When a 911 call has been placed, the phone system must also be able to send a notification to a designated person at the company to assist first responders. The notification can come in the form of a phone call, email, SMS/text message, or on-screen message.

These are in addition to the existing 911 emergency requirements:

  • Automatically provide 911 service to all customers as a standard, mandatory feature. VoIP providers may not allow customers to “opt-out” of the 911 service.
  • Obtain a customer’s physical location prior to service activation and provide one or more easy ways for customers to update the location they have registered with the provider if it changes.
  • Transmit all 911 calls, as well as a callback number and the caller’s registered physical location, to the appropriate emergency services call center or local emergency authority.
  • Take appropriate action to ensure customers have a clear understanding of the limitations, if any, of their 911 service.
  • Obtain acknowledgment from all customers that they are aware of and understand their 911 service.
  • Ensure that a 911 call is routed to the appropriate 911 call center in areas where emergency service providers are not capable of receiving or processing the location information or call back numbers are not automatically transmitted with 911 calls.

Make sure you stay compliant as business and are offering the safest options for your customers and employees. If you have any questions on our VoIP phone system offerings or offering E911 to your customers, please give us a call: 800-586-0321