[Asterisk-Users] E911 Testing !

[brett-asterisk at worldcall.net]

911 Testing is a very complicated issue. For a clec it typically 
involves scheduling with them so they will expect your call. Also we 
frequently use false addresses (that are MSAG resolvable) and some very 
sophisticated PSAPs even have fake addresses that MSAG resolve to a 
"testing" ESN. Translated in english:

1. I put in a "special address" mapped to a phone number into the 911 
location database. This is in the ALI database. The primary source of 
data that the 911 centers map phone number to address.
2. MSAG (The master street address guide) maps actual street addresses 
to "ESNs" an ESN is an "Emergency Service Number" (or something like 
that, feel free to correct me). It is basically a specific collection of 
Police, Fire and EMS. For example, Your house might use Police "A", Fire 
"B" and EMS "B", but the people on the other side of the street might 
use Police "C", Fire "B", EMS "B" (maybe it's jurisdictionally a 
"different town"). The PSAPs make up a fake address like 1234 Network 
Testing Blvd and they make it resolve to ESN 555 which will route to a 
testing center ("joe") who only recieves test calls.

Ok.. so too much information.. right?

here's the short answer. Please don't call 911 unless you have an 
emergency. Find out who your local PSAP is and call the administative 
number for it and talk to them. Sometimes it is hard to find this 
number, but it's out there. Look for Emergency services in "ACME town" 
or "ACME Town 911 Dispatch" etc,etc. Some very small towns actually have 
their administrative lines forward to the 911 centers for those areas.

Also be aware that if you are a carrier, you are required by law to have 
a signed contract with the 911 agency. This is typically so they can 
collect on the federally mandated 911 end user line fees.
-Brett


Manjit Riat wrote:

> I believe the 911 is a serious issue if one does an asterisk 
> installation in an office. How do you test 911? Won’t they arrest you 
> or something for dialing 911 for no reason and talking to one of their 
> agents who could have taken a more important call?
>
> On the other hand what an emergency comes up (like someone got 
> seriously injured) and on top of that asterisk crashed all of a sudden 
> bringing the whole office PBX down. Since it would be not be possible 
> to place a call and emergency matter becomes more serious, who would 
> be held responsible? The person who installed the PBX for not 
> implementing a redundant and reliable system?
>
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