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Best way to handle 911

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Flash99

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I saw many discussions about this, but still couldn't find a useful answer
What would be the best way to handle CID for 911 in multi location system?
Several offices, each office has a main number, but every extension gets out with its own CID
The main number of each office is E911 registered so I need a way to change CID of all the extension in each office to the main number only for 911 calls
 
If provider allows it, just create several additional SIP trunks, outbound calling on them is presented with corresponding office main number and use different outbound rules for using them. This will be also useful, if somebody at the office wants to present himself with main office number, instead of his own.
Then create outbound rules for calling 911 using these trunks based on group / list of extensions who dialed the number, ensuring the caller will present himself with corresponding office main number. These rules must be on the top of rules, before any other rules without limitations. In this scenario you probably have to disable emergency dialing found in setting | PBX, as this emergency setting will override your outbound rules (higher precedence) in version 15/15.5 (in older versions Emergency dialing was just creating an outbound rule and was placing it on the top of outbound rules).
 
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I can't get more trunks, but I was thinking about something similar
Create extension with main number as CID an then create 3CX trunk that connects to this extension
I'm not sure that 3CX will allow to connect to itself

If provider allows it, just create several additional SIP trunks, outbound calling on them is presented with corresponding office main number and use different outbound rules for using them. This will be also useful, if somebody at the office wants to present himself with main office number, instead of his own.
Then create outbound rules for calling 911 using these trunks based on group / list of extensions who dialed the number, ensuring the caller will present himself with corresponding office main number. These rules must be on the top of rules, before any other rules without limitations. In this scenario you probably have to disable emergency dialing found in setting | PBX, as this emergency setting will override your outbound rules (higher precedence) in version 15/15.5 (in older versions Emergency dialing was just creating an outbound rule and was placing it on the top of outbound rules).
 
I will send you later examle how to create loop trunk with dummy extension for the purpose -- generally your idea, it's possible.
 
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You may also wish to talk to your provider for their thoughts on the issue. Many providers allow for the registration of each DID to be e911 registered. They may have other thoughts as well. You can try the loop method or you might also be able to eliminate the emergency dialing aspect and then create a dummy extension of 911 (3 digit extension or SIP ID if using other than 3 digit) and then have that extension set with the desired CID for the e911 registration with a forward to a number that gets it to an outbound route whereupon you can use the rules to strip and prepend back to 911 so it will dial out rather than being seen as a internal extension and dialing itself. .

While I have not tried this it might be worth a shot. Like the loop method - This rule should be at the top of the list and emergency dialing settings must not be invoked/setup. The one risk that either method has however, is that unlike the emergency number dialing function, these methods will not override the maximum simultaneous call limitations not will there be any notification that an emergency number was dialed.

If there are no suitable methods using SIP, then you may need to consider bringing in an analog line and connecting same to the system using an ATA such as the GS HT-503 which is both FXO and FXS, . You can set the FXO to be a trunk and then setup emergency dialing such that when invoked the route will be to the HT and the CID will be that associated to the analog line. You can also use an analog phone to connect to the FXS port which will act as a life-line in the event that power is out. Upon such an occurance the HT will lose power but will automatically close the relay thereby connecting the FXO and FXS together which will continue to allow at least an analog line to be available. The other advantage is that being analog, the 911 call should be routed to the local 911 center and not a national e911. I do this in every hotel and it works fine.
 
I can't get more trunks, but I was thinking about something similar
Create extension with main number as CID an then create 3CX trunk that connects to this extension
I'm not sure that 3CX will allow to connect to itself

Do the following:

1. Create one or more dummy extensions with caller-ID corresponding to main office or regional offices, assuming your trunk uses extension caller-ID as outbound caller-ID. Dummy extensions will not be used as normal extensions, nevertheless they could be used.
2. Create one or several SIP trunks, for each of the offices -- generic SIP trunk with registration to 127.0.0.1 (the PBX itself) and credentials -- the data from dummy extension(s).
3. Make outbound rule(s) to use this/these SIP trunk(s) to check proper operation (presentation with caller-ID of the dummy extension(s) -- this may be used for other purposes too (presentation with common caller-ID of the office, instead of personal).
4. Create outbound rules and move them to the top for group/list of extensions dialing 911 to use specific trunk, thus you will send the office's one caller-ID. There should be no limitation on usage (like disable outbound calls per extension / out of office hours, etc.)
5. You also may need to disable Emergency dialing in Settings | PBX, as that will override your rules for 911.

Regards,
Orlin.
 
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Thanks
I actually did exactly that yesterday
The only problem is that I was not able to make the trunk register
I'm getting "Authentication failed for AuthFail Recv Req REGISTER from.." "Reason: Credentials don't match, check that authorization-ID and password match the ones in extension settings" errors
I tried with 127.0.0.1 and with the actual IP of the 3CX, but still the same error
I'm using the ID and password from the "Authentication" part of the extension
I also tried all types of Trunks and of course I selected "Register/Account Based" Type of Authentication for the trunk

Do the following:

1. Create one or more dummy extensions with caller-ID corresponding to main office or regional offices, assuming your trunk uses extension caller-ID as outbound caller-ID. Dummy extensions will not be used as normal extensions, nevertheless they could be used.
2. Create one or several SIP trunks, for each of the offices -- generic SIP trunk with registration to 127.0.0.1 (the PBX itself) and credentials -- the data from dummy extension(s).
3. Make outbound rule(s) to use this/these SIP trunk(s) to check proper operation (presentation with caller-ID of the dummy extension(s) -- this may be used for other purposes too (presentation with common caller-ID of the office, instead of personal).
4. Create outbound rules and move them to the top for group/list of extensions dialing 911 to use specific trunk, thus you will send the office's one caller-ID. There should be no limitation on usage (like disable outbound calls per extension / out of office hours, etc.)
5. You also may need to disable Emergency dialing in Settings | PBX, as that will override your rules for 911.

Regards,
Orlin.
 
Make authentication ID of extension equal to extension number, like it used to be before SP2. It's working for me that way.
 
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Interesting
Using ID of extension equal to extension number made the trunk show date/time under "Register OK" in the trunk. Also I don't see the error anymore, but the trunk still shows as red / down

The dummy extension shows green / up

Make authentication ID of extension equal to extension number, like it used to be before SP2. It's working for me that way.
 
Last edited:
Try it without registration -- IP based
Untitled.png
 
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Thanks looks ok now
I will try to see if it actually works a bit later

BTW it make the dummy extension show as down, so I hope it will still allow to make calls in this state

Try it without registration -- IP based
View attachment 6696
 
It works this way thank you very much for your help
A bit annoying that it shows the extension as down, but it works
 
You can use a working extension too, thus a phone and sip trunk will appear registered for this extension.
 
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