I have been told in the past that you can call 911 to test, as long as you keep in mind the following: 1) NEVER call and hang up. They WILL send a response team to site, and you (or your customer) will be billed for the false alarm. 2) Do not call during a busy time (such as a Friday night when everyone is getting drunk and injuring themselves), unless you have arranged this in advance. 3) If possible, call the local (non 911) number for the emergency services in your area and tell them you are a telecom service provider and want to determine the correct procedure for testing 911 functionality. In general, they should be very appreciative of the fact that you took the trouble to do this (but don't be suprised if this is not a common request for them). If you get attitude, ask for their boss. You are responsible for ensuring that your systems are able to route 911 correctly, so it doesn't seem improproper to want to be able to test. Always be polite. 4) If and when you do make a test call, simply inform the emergency operator that you are a telephone repair person, and are testing the emergency service on the system. They may cut the call short, but as long as you spoke to a live person and said you were testing, there will be a recording of the conversation. 5) Don't make multiple 911 calls from the same system. One test should be enough (unless it is a campus environment, and in this case emergency testing will normally be coordinated with the onsite security team). 6) Put a MixMonitor() priority in your 911 exten, so your Asterisk system will record any emergency calls 7) Don't assume that the procedures for testing are the same everywhere. Emergency operators in Toronto might have a totally different view of testing than, say, Kapuskasing 911. I would imagine that in general the local Fire Marshall office would be a good resource for asking questions about 911 testing in a particular area. Number 1 is probably most important to keep in mind. A test call shouldn't cause a problem as long as it does not trigger a false alarm. Jim
-- Jim Van Meggelen [EMAIL PROTECTED] HYPERLINK "http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/au/2177"http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/au/2177 "A child is the ultimate startup, and I have three. This makes me rich." Guy Kawasaki -- _____ From: John Cianfarani [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: April 8, 2006 11:29 AM To: TAUG Subject: RE: [on-asterisk] 911 How does everyone here go about testing their 911 setup? I’ve never wanted to really dial 911 just to do a test. Best I could think of is to disconnect whatever trunks (iax or physical) and dial and see if it tried to go through the trunk. Should have a test number like 912 :P Thanks John _____ From: Reza - Asterisk Enthusiast [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, April 08, 2006 3:02 AM To: David Steele; TAUG Subject: Re: [on-asterisk] 911 David: For 911 & e911 service, I use UNLIMITEL as my carrier. Every DID on UNLIMITEL has 911 capability. Technically your responsibility is to provide 911 access and inform your clients the limitation. If you want to read more from the #1 source who regulates this (CRTC) you can go to: HYPERLINK "http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/NEWS/RELEASES/2005/i051020.htm"http://www.crtc.gc .ca/eng/NEWS/RELEASES/2005/i051020.htm This is where you will find ALL information you need. Alternatively if you don't mind reading tones of docs, simply click on the following: " HYPERLINK "http://search.crtc.gc.ca/eng/query.html?op0=&fl0=&ty0=w&tx0=voip&op1=%2B&fl 1=&ty1=w&tx1=+911&op2=-&fl2=&ty2=w&tx2=+&nh=10&rf=0&lk=1&ws=1&charset=iso-88 59-1&ht=0&qp=url%3Aeng&qt=&qs=&qc=&pw=100%25&la=en&qm=1&st=1&oq=&rq=0&ql=a&s i=0&submit=+search+"CRTC SITE " But to answer your direct questions as I posed to CRTC a while ago: 1. " Can I provide 911 service access as an optional extra, as Vonage seems to do? " According to CRTC & their words (I forget the officers name) - It's quite simple. a. If you have a VOIP hardphone, that is a CISCO, SIPURA, GRANDSTREAM, etc - it is mandatory to provide basic 911 service in Canada. Your e-911 can be an option, but basic 911 is must be available. 2. " Do I need to provide e911, or can I just provide basic 911, on the premise that I'm not a true VoIP provider.... " I had exactly the same question to this CRTC dude. The answer is: As long as you terminate calls to a PSTN number, you must have access to 911 - regardless. And if technically you are not a VoIP provider, but use a carrier to go through, then you must make sure that your carrier has 911 capability. Hope this answers your questions. Cheers & good luck! Reza. ----- Original Message ----- From: HYPERLINK "mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]"David Steele To: HYPERLINK "mailto:[email protected]"[email protected] Sent: Friday, April 07, 2006 12:06 PM Subject: [on-asterisk] 911 Hi, I'm trying to learn about my responsibilities to provide 911 service for my clients in both the US and Canada. I provide temporary office space with voice connectivity via satellite. The voice service is actually provided by my teleport provider. We are looking into the issue of trying to provide 911; we realize there are a variety of options for enabling it (Northern 911, a company I was introduced to this week at VON is a great option). The questions that both I and my teleport vendor have are: - Can I provide 911 service access as an optional extra, as Vonage seems to do? - At the moment, my service utilizes VoIP as a backbone technology from my Asterisk box over a private network. Do I need to provide e911, or can I just provide basic 911, on the premise that I'm not a true VoIP provider and therefore not subject to the regulation that all VoIP providers must provide e911 services? Any input appreciated. TIA. Cheers, Dave. -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.385 / Virus Database: 268.4.0/304 - Release Date: 07/04/2006 -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.385 / Virus Database: 268.4.0/304 - Release Date: 07/04/2006
