Hotel and E911

[moonmotel]

Hi,
I recently installed 3cx on AWS and have it working with a Grandstream GXW4248. The hotel is 29 rooms plus a managers apartment. I need to know if we need to be compliant with Ray Baum's Act by setting up each room with its own location and what is the best option to do so. We are with VOIP.ms and I don't want to setup a separate DID for each room unless that is the only/best option.

Secondly, we have setup 2 emergency numbers under Settings > General. The two numbers are 911 and 9911 (strip the first digit). And we have setup notifications on these two numbers to ring front desk and the manager on duty. Is that all that is needed for Kari's Law?

 

[cobaltit]

Both acts are very clear in their wording.

https://www.fcc.gov/mlts-911-requirements

For Kari's law, direct 911 dialing is required, meaning 9911 is not. It doesn't hurt to have it, but it's not required.

For Ray Baum, it clearly states the answer to your question:



Now generally if you have 24/7 staff onsite who also can get the notification and direct emergency responders to the room that will suffice, but why risk it? I assume you are saving money implementing 3CX. Do you really want to be the person who decides that saving $30/month was more important than perhaps shaving 30 seconds to a couple minutes off the response time in the case of an emergency whether it's required or not?

The video below details how you setup 3CX to be compliant. As of this time, it is the only want to do things in 3CX.

https://www.3cx.com/blog/vlog/erl-elin-kari-e911-regulation/

Due note that I am not a lawyer, and I recommend you check with one to be safe and be sure there are not any local compliance concerns.

 

[moonmotel]

Thank you for the reply. I guess I should rephrase the question regarding Ray Baum. Is the Ray Baum Act in full effect already for new PBX installations? I know Kari's Law is in effect based on what I've gathered online. So what is the effective date of Ray Baum Act?

Secondly, we are okay with spending the extra money for the DIDs plus e911 service for each room, but it was a general question to see if this cost can reduced/avoided using some other functionality or service.

 

[cobaltit]

There are other ways to providing location information, but they are currently more expensive (geared towards large enterprises) and that support is not built into 3CX. So DID is the only method we have now.

The effective date for Ray Baum act is in the link I posted above and yes it is in effect now.

 

[dschur]

You should talk with the local PSAP. Some states have tighter regulations as to location. Also remember that in Ray Baum you need to set-up notification to an on-site person (i.e. if someone call the 911 it also notifies your front desk) with exact location (room number etc.). Hopefully your naming convention for the extensions has the location. You can use the First Name for the location (building-floor-room).

Some SIP providers will supply fill Enhanced 911 for every DID for as little as $.50 per month.

 

[moonmotel]

Some SIP providers will supply fill Enhanced 911 for every DID for as little as $.50 per month.

Can you elaborate on this part?

 

[dschur]

https://www.3cx.com/blog/vlog/erl-elin-kari-e911-regulation/

ERL - Emergency Response Location. This may not need to be down to each room, but by building and floor. Your SIP provider should be able to give you different ANI's to use that will transmit the correct ERL.

The ERL ANI needs be registered with the unique address. Most SIP carriers provide this for the main DID number and charge a couple of dollars per month for each additional ANI with the ERL / 911 information attached.

The two links I sent you explain what is required for compliance. Once again, speak with your PSAP to understand the features they have for receiving calls.

There are also companies that can set-up numbers that will be used as a relay to the PSAP. Each number will be a couple of dollars a month.

Punchalert
Anveo
Callcentric
GV911.com / Bulk911.com (bulkvs.com) you do not need to use their SIP service for their E911 service.

 

[leejor]

As someone living in a country not subject to this, I'm wondering...Does this mean that any older analogue (or even digital) PBX, using PSTN lines, where the callers specific location in a building, (only a street address), could not be identified, is now no longer legal in the US? I'm thinking small business, in the middle of nowhere, with no SIP providers available, or no desire to upgrade a small PBX.

 

[SweetAction]

More details here: https://www.fcc.gov/mlts-911-requirements but in short, existing systems don't need to worry - only new system / new installs.

Likely a small business only has 1 address and a single floor / general location. Should be fine anyways. This is really for large places like hotels or companies with multiple buildings so that 911 can get to the right place.

 

[leejor]

Thanks, hadn't looked into all of the details, in particular, the part about it applying to systems offered/installed after a certain date..