E911 ALI Database 1

[VoIPGuyNSC]

Good day,

I'm beginning to wonder if we are the only organization attempting to do this. Please let me know if we are completely off-base here.

Briefly, our district employs a VoIP system across four, soon to be six, sites utilizing four PRIs installed at two of the six sites, basically servicing the sites in the respective Central Office. All inbound and outbound calls are routed over these circuits. We have just overcome the outbound CLID issue. The provider has finally added the needed numbers into the ANI/CPN screening table. That has been resolved, with the exception of the "special assembly" that is needed in the case of a PRI failure where we route calls out the PRI from the other CO. No big deal there. We can wait.

The problem is that I can't seem to get a resolution to the problem of E911 ALI lookup used by the PSAP. When a call is made to 911, they look up the address of the ANI/CPN and they get the address of the PRI, not the address of the caller. We have designated specific numbers to be sent out as CPN when 911 calls are made, but they will not associate those ELIN numbers with the address of the schools in the MSAG.

Are we completely off base here? I'm beginning to think it would be easier if we just sent the 911 calls out the backup centrex lines installed on-site, but that would not allow us to use our Cisco Emergency Responder application which automatically routes PSAP callbacks to the originating phone.

Any thoughts?

Thank you!

John Lever
Telecommunications
Richland School District Two

 

[jgideon]

The tool I used in Illinois gave us the ability associate an address with any DID that was transmitted from our site. It was a 'software' product available from the LEC that had a monthly fee for the 'service' and then variable fees based on the number of DID's on our account. In Illinois, there was(is) a requirement that any number transmitted to a PSAP had to be a DID, and 'area specific' numbers were required, but we went ahead and converted everything on campus to DID, and did location specific labelling. It's been years since that 'former life', but does your LEC have something similar?

 

[VoIPGuyNSC]

Apprently its called 911 PinPoint and according to the provider, its pretty hefty. $3600 one-time charge and over $170/month for up to 1000 stations. That would be great, but we only need 6. I don't think my manager is going to go for it.

John Lever
Telecommunications
Richland School District Two

 

[mforrence]

What I've done in the past is, on 911 calls, sent the number of an analog fax machine at the site where the phone is physically located. This method has worked at each site where I've tried it.
Mike

 

[VoIPGuyNSC]

That's a good thought, however, it fails to take into consideration PSAP callback. If they were to call back on that line, then the FAX would answer. No no! We utilize Cisco Emergency Responder which is a sort of "adjunct" box which automatically routes callbacks from the PSAP to the originating phone, even without a DID for each individual phone. Pretty slick setup, but everything has to go through a PRI or dedicated CAMA trunk to and from the PSAP.

At least with the PinPoint service, we'll be able to give the PSAP more specific information than just the street address. We'll be able to break it down into floor and even room number, if we wish. Not originally what we had wanted to do, but maybe management will go for it then.

Thanks everyone for the ideas!

John Lever
Telecommunications
Richland School District Two

 

[jgideon]

Good luck!

Hopefully they'll see the 'life safety' benefit--that's how we managed to sell it prior to it becoming state law....

 

[johnpoole]

get in touch with the people from your provider that maintain the s-7 database.. they can update that on a per-clid and then 911 ali will see the s7 as the calling address. it's really pretty simple, they just have to many hands making entries..

john poole
bellsouth business
columbia,sc

 

[VoIPGuyNSC]

John,

With all due respect to the kind people who have been trying to help me at my provider, getting in touch with someone like that would be next to impossible. It took over a month to reach someone who could get the ball rolling on the "disabling" of screening tables, only after hearing from two other people prior that it couldn't be done. When all is said and done, the district has agreed to proceed with the 911 PinPoint, which is certainly okay by me, especially considering that we can make changes and updates to Intrado directly from a web interface. We won't be using anywhere near the 1000 "stations" that we could, but it will certainly be nice to break schools down into geographical locations.

John Lever
Telecommunications
Richland School District Two