[Asterisk-Users] 911 emergency service and VoIP

[Kevin P. Fleming]

Andrew Kohlsmith wrote:

> Do you have information on how to do this?  This is *precisely* what I want to 
> do.  I assumed you set this up with your telco and then set the caller ID to 
> the # matching the address you wanted, leaving the telco to do the address 
> match.

In discussions with my telco, they are very unwilling to do this, 
because they don't want to be responsible for making these database 
changes (too much liability involved). Just imagine what would happen if 
you move a phone, mandating an ALI update for the associated DID number, 
send that update request to the telco, and it takes them 24 hours to 
make the change, during which time that phone is used to call 911 and 
help is dispatched to the wrong location :-( If the situation was 
life-threatening, someone could die. They don't want to be even remotely 
responsible for that.

In the normal case, they set up the ALI information _once_ when you 
order your service, and make changes only when you physically move 
services. PS/ALI pushes the ALI update burden onto you, which is where 
it belongs. You can then deal with the liability issues with your 
customers, and the telco is out of the loop (no pun intended).