911 via Abbreviated Dial

[Bobtheicon]

Installing an SX-200ICP in a large hotel.
Thinking about programming all of the room phones' speed dial buttons with abbreviated dial codes (*10, *11, *12, *13, *14, etc.). That way, room phone programming is simple (analog room phones) and I can easily change what each button does.

The question is, lets say I program Abbreviated Dial *10 to dial 9911, then program all the room phone buttons labeled EMERGENCY to dial *10. If that button is pushed, will it be the same as dialing 9911? -- i.e. will the Console be notified via alarm and the call go out to 911?

Thanks in advance (my first post -- yippeeee!!!)

 

[mitelman]

Yes, if you ensure that the 911 digits are listed as emergency in the ARS programming. I would advise against programming this to a button though, as you will more than likely get a lot of false calls (read little kids pushing buttons) and if the phone gets replaced and the buttons are not programmed properly it will not work.

Using speed dials for the other features, like room service, voicemail, etc. is a good idea

 

[MitelInMyBlood]

I would agree that programming 911 or 9-911 as an abbreviated dial code on any phone anywhere is a very-very bad idea.

Now, having said that, what I can suggest (highly recommend) is a 911 accidental misdial trap. 9-911 generally won't result in too many accidental misdials, but 9-911 doesn't meet spirit or letter of the law in most jurisdictions. To keep the lawyers happy you've got to allow 911 by itself, whether you want to or not. Unfortunately this also seems to be a misdial magnet.

Easy way to avoid this, build some phony routes for all 911X with 6 digits to follow and send them to a blind (undefined) route. Then build another (separate) valid route for just 911 (but still unknown to follow) and send that out to your local telco trunks.

i.e.,
Leading digit 9, second dial tone = yes
Digit strings:
11 - unkn to follow - Emergency - Route - (whatever)
110 - 6 to follow - Local - Route - (dummy/non-existent)
111 - 6 to follow - ditto
112 - 6 to follow - ditto
113 - 6 etc ditto
114 - ditto
115 - ditto
117 - ditto
118 - ditto
119 - ditto

This will allow *JUST 911* to go out but will block 911 with any additional extraneous digits to follow, as in the case of an accidental 911x misdial. Yes, it will cause a 'pause' in outpulsing 911, but the alternative is unpleasant when the city fines you for too many false calls.

 

[TheMitelGuy]

In some areas of North America it is actually ilegal to program 9-1-1 on a public phone as a push button/speed dial.

Second, it is not a bad idea to allow 9-1-1 and 9-9-1-1 to both dial emergency. I would rather have a number of false misdials then a person that is upset. You can always change it back.

 

[fromill]

We are running an SX2000 Lightware 32 Feature levels 1,2, &3.

I have a similar problem with dialing 911 from our offices. We use Centrex and must dial 9-9-911. Dialing 9-911 is not a problem but just 911 is. To dial a local Centrex number we dial 9+last5 digits of the number, so it can be 9-1-1xxx.
Thank you.

 

[Bobtheicon]

Thanks everyone, I appreciate the input.
I think I am going to have the "emergency" button dial 0, but also label the phones "for emergency, dial 911".
Then I'll take MitelInMyBlood's advice and setup ARS accordingly -- Great idea by the way!!
Thanks again,
Bob

 

[MitelInMyBlood]

We build the exact same 911 misdial trap in the SX2000 and 3300s except it's somewhat easier on those machines because you can build it in the system speed call table. Takes all of maybe 5 minutes. Doing it in ARS works the same way but just takes a bit longer.

The accidental misdial trap has absolutely stopped (100%) of the "Ooops" calls.

We also sent out a 1-page bulletin explaining to our users how 911 works, what types of situations to call 911 for, what types of situations NOT to call 911 for and most important of all to ask everyone to please not hang up if they accidentally call 911 by mistake.