Emergency Services 911 Dialing
Service Provider 911/E911 Service Terms and Conditions
Last updated June 3, 2021
These 911/E911 Service Terms and Conditions (“Terms”) serve as the formal disclosure and parameters of the 911/E911 Service. These Terms and Conditions and stated disclosures detail critical information related to the 911/E911 Service which you purchase from us and in turn resell to your Customers.
You agree that you will provide to each Customer all the information related to the use of the 911/E911 Service contained herein and that you hold the full and sole liability and responsibility to the Customer for the 911/E911 Service. You shall hold harmless and indemnify us from any potential or actual liability, as set forth in Section 8 (Warranties, Indemnification and Disclaimer of Liability) below (along with any of our underlying carriers) in relation to the use and limitations of the 911/E911 Service and information contained within this document.
Further, it is your sole responsibility to stay current with all federal, state, and local laws regarding 911/E911 obligations, which are subject to change at any time. We are not responsible for maintaining this document to reflect the most current laws.
These Terms are hereby incorporated into the Order Form, its attachments, and all other documentation by reference. All capitalized terms that are used but not defined in these Terms shall have the respective meanings given to them in the Agreement, its attachments, and all other documentation, as well as rules and orders of the Federal Communications Commission as appropriate.
THE SERVICES DO NOT PROVIDE FOR AND/OR SUPPORT TRADITIONAL 911 SERVICES SUCH AS A LANDLINE SERVICE OR A TRADITIONAL WIRED PHONE SERVICE. YOU MUST INFORM YOUR CUSTOMERS THAT THEY MUST MAINTAIN AN ALTERNATE MEANS OF REQUESTING EMERGENCY SERVICES. YOU AFFIRM AND AGREE THAT YOU HAVE READ THIS DOCUMENT WHICH CONTAINS SPECIFIC TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND SHALL INFORM YOUR CUSTOMERS OF THESE FACTS AND ALL OTHER INFORMATION CONTAINED IN 911/E911 THESE TERMS & CONDITIONS AND UNDERLYING DISCLOSURES.
1. DEFINITIONS
“Emergency Services Operator” shall mean a person at an Emergency Services Center that answers a 911 call.
“Emergency Services Center” shall mean a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP), Statewide Default Answering Point or Appropriate Local Emergency Authority as those terms are defined at 47 C.F.R. § 9.3. An Emergency Services Center may also include a National Emergency Call Center.
“Registered Location” shall mean the most recent information obtained by you and provided to us that identifies the physical location of an End User.
“Wireline E911 Network” shall mean a dedicated wireline network that: (1) is interconnected with but largely separate from the Public Switched Telephone Network (“PSTN”); (2) includes a selective router; and (3) is used to route emergency calls and related information to PSAPs, designated statewide default answering points, appropriate local emergency authorities or other emergency answering points.
2. BASIC 911 AND ENHANCED E911
Basic 911 Emergency Services enable persons to dial 911 to reach an Emergency Services Center but do not have the capability to automatically provide the caller’s call back number or location. Therefore, the caller must be prepared to provide this information to the Emergency Services Operator. Until the caller provides the Emergency Services Operator with their phone number, the Emergency Services Operator may or may not be able to call back the individual caller who made the 911 call. They also may not be able to dispatch assistance if the call is not forwarded, completed, is dropped and/or is disconnected or if the caller is unable to speak.
Enhanced 911 (“E911”) Emergency Services enable persons to dial 911 and automatically transmit the individual caller's telephone number and registered address (associated with the telephone number) to the local or regional Emergency Services Center assigned to the individual caller's location. Emergency Services Operators have access to the information required to support and dispatch Emergency Services professionals and/or have the information required to call back the individual caller if necessary. However, the individual caller should always be prepared to provide their specific address location and call back number to the Emergency Services Operator.
Certain Customers or End Users may not have access to E911 Services because there are no local or regional Emergency Services Centers serving the Customer’s or End User’s location or if you failed to register the Customer's address or the End User’s location as further explained within these Terms.
If the Customers or End Users do not have access to E911, the 911 call will be routed (sent) to the National Emergency Call Center. An Emergency Services Operator at the National Emergency Call Center will ask the individual caller for their name and physical location address, and the Emergency Services Operator will then contact the local Emergency Services Center on behalf of the individual caller for the local Emergency Services Center to dispatch services to the individual caller's location.
National Emergency Call Center: Calls may be sent to the National Emergency Call Center when: i) the Customer or End User is located in a geographic area and/or region that is not covered by a Wireline E911 Network, ii) there is an issue validating a Customer's or End User’s physical address location during the 911 address/physical location registration; or, iii) for any other reason which may arise when a call is routed.
Limitations: The local Emergency Services Operator receiving the Customer’s or End User’s 911/E911 Service calls may not have a system configured for E911 Services or be able to record, display and/or retain Automatic Number Identification ("ANI"). If such is the case and the ANI is not displayed to or retained by the Emergency Services Center, the Emergency Services Operator may not know the phone number and/or physical location of the Customer or End User initiating the 911 call. There may be instances when your Customer or your Customer’s End User who dials 911 may receive a busy signal or will experience unexpected wait times and/or longer wait times than if using a traditional or wired service. A local, regional and/or national disaster and heavy call volume to 911 may also result in busy signals, longer than expected wait times, and/or failure to connect to an Emergency Services Operator.
3. REGISTRATION OBLIGATIONS
The 911/E911 Service is a Voice Over Internet Protocol (“VoIP”) service and is different from a traditional landline/wired telephone service.
General Registration: Prior to initiating service, you must register each of your Customers’ and Customer’s End Users’ Registered Location for each phone number and/or phone line on the platform. The Registered Location is the most recent information obtained by you that identifies the physical location of the Customer or the Customer’s End Users. The physical location shall be deemed the location where the physical equipment is located, including without limitation, VoIP/SIP phones, phone adapters and ATA's, and/or any other like or similar equipment. Registration may be completed on the platform and/or if and as required on any of our underlying carriers’ websites/platforms.
Registration Changes or Updates: You must immediately update your Customer’s Registered Location when the Customer informs you of any moves, changes in address and/or physical location. The platform and underlying carriers route a 911 call to the correct Emergency Services Center to reach an Emergency Services Operator for the Registered Location of your Customer or Customer’s End Users. Any and/or all enhanced address/physical location information provided to an Emergency Services Operator by the platform will be based upon the Registered Location provided by you. You will provide your Customer one or more methods of updating their Registered Location at will and in a timely manner, including the option to update such information through the use of the Customer premises equipment necessary to access the Service. Additionally, you will inform the Customer that there may be a delay in making the new Registered Location available to properly route a 911 call and/or to advise the Emergency Services Center of the Customer's or Customer’s End User’s Registered Location.
Registration Failure and Non-Compliance:
Failure to Update Registered Location. If you do not update the Customer’s Registered Location(s), any 911 calls the Customer or End User makes using the Service will be routed based on previous or outdated information and therefore may not be routed to the appropriate Emergency Services Center for the End Users’ current location.
Emergency Services Center Call Fee. The definition of an unprovisioned SIP call is a call from a number that is routed to the Emergency Services Center without any subscriber or address information provisioned or associated. You will be charged a fee per incident as a pass through charge that is charged to us by our upstream carriers or affiliates for an unprovisioned SIP call.
Additional Limitations. You shall inform the Customer that their or their End User’s emergency call may not be routed to the correct Emergency Services Center if the End User is calling from a location different than the most recent Registered Location.
Service Location Changes or Re-Registration of Service: You shall inform your Customer that if the Customer or Customer’s End User re-registers for Service, changes and/or adds or ports new numbers the 911/E911 Service will not function. If the Customer requests that you change a phone number, add new phone numbers, or port new phone numbers to the Customer’s account, it is your responsibility to successfully register the Customer or End User’s location for each change.
4. 911/E911 SERVICE LIMITATIONS
Equipment Malfunction, Failure and/or Programming/Provisioning Errors: The Services will not function in the event the equipment located at the Customer’s or End Users’ location and/or any equipment in general including, without limitation, software, network servers, routers, hubs and any other like or similar equipment related to the Services, fails for any reason.
Internet Failure: If there is an interruption of the Customer’s or End User’s broadband or internet service, the Customer or the End User will not have access to the Service during such interruption, including without limitation, access to 911/E911 Service during the time of the actual interruption and for any time thereafter when the Service is re-provisioned, reestablished and restored to proper working full functionality. Service functions are dependent upon an established broadband connection or internet service, which we do not supply, provision or control. Even in the event you and/or your Customer installs and maintains a fully functioning backup power supply with the correct equipment configuration, we do not guarantee the Service will be continual, contiguous or error free. Under no circumstances shall we offer credits of any kind for Service failures and malfunctions due to power outages and/or disruptions in broadband connections or internet service.
Loss of Electrical Power: The Service will not function if there is no electrical power and the Customer or End User will not have use or availability of the Service and 911/E911 Service during any power outage.
Reduced Speed for Routing Emergency Calls: Calls made through the 911/E911 Service at times may be subject to reduced call routing speed and/or network congestion, which may result in failed or non-completed 911 calls.
Calls Outside of the United States: If you and/or your Customer relocates the Service and/or equipment outside of the United States, the 911 Service will not function properly. You affirm and agree that you will inform your Customer of such facts and you shall inform the Customer to check and review the emergency calling procedures where the Customer or Customer’s End User will be located to determine the proper emergency dialing procedures.
Cancellation or Termination of Service: 911/E911 Service will not be available to the Customer in the event your use of the Service is suspended or terminated. You agree that any Service outage which may result in the Customers’ non-operability of Service due to suspension or termination of your account as a result of nonpayment or for any other reason, including, without limitation, any reasons set forth within these Terms, will prevent all Service use, including 911/E911 Service.
5. SERVICE PROVIDER OBLIGATIONS AND ASSURANCES
Call Routing & Disclosure: You shall inform your Customers that phone numbers or physical location(s) will not be detected when a 911/E911 call is routed to a National Emergency Call Center and that the End Users must be prepared to disclose to the Emergency Services Operator their phone number, address/physical location and any other information that is requested by the Emergency Services Operator. Further, you agree that you will inform the Customer that by using the Service and associated 911/E911 features, the Customers' phone number and Registered Location(s) will be disclosed as applicable by the National Emergency Call Center to the third party and/or appropriate parties that provide Emergency Services to the Customer.
Customer Notification: Customers must prominently and in plain language inform all potential individual users of the Service who may be present at the Customers' or End User’s physical location where the Service is used of the circumstances under which E911 services may not be available and of the key differences of a VoIP 911 calling Service in comparison with 911 service supported by a "traditional'' landline/wired telephone service. You shall obtain and keep a record of affirmative acknowledgment of every subscriber, both new and existing, of having received and understood this notification. Additionally, you must provide an emergency services disclaimer to each Customer before activating the Customer’s Service. We take no responsibility and will not be liable to you in any manner in the event we provide a template Emergency Services disclosure that you may provide to your Customers. We are not a law firm or regulatory firm and prior to use of any such materials provided to you, you affirm and agree that you shall seek outside legal advice and/or use at your sole discretion.
Alternative Arrangements: By purchasing the Services, you affirm and agree that if you are not comfortable with the limitations of the 911/E911 Service it is your obligation to make available to your Customers an alternative means of accessing Emergency Services.
No Call Blocking: You are the sole and responsible party for any unauthorized use of the 911/E911 Services. You must instruct your Customers not to block any phone number when dialing 911 and you shall have the sole responsibility to monitor and ensure no block is enabled which would inhibit 911 calling and functionality by a Customer or End User. Any form of blocking may inhibit the correct routing of 911/E911 calls. You shall be solely responsible and shall indemnify, defend and hold us harmless, pursuant to Section 8, for any 911 failure due to blocking of 911 calls.
6. DIRECT DIALING, MLTS NOTIFICATION AND DISPATCHABLE LOCATION
The provisions of this Section apply to Multi-line Telephone Systems (“MLTS”) installed after February 16, 2020. Unless otherwise noted, all capitalized terms in this section shall have the same meaning as set forth in section 9.3 of the rules of the Federal Communications Commission, 47 C.F.R. § 9.3.
Where Service is used to provide MLTS, you represent that you, or your Customer, is in the business of installing, operating or managing the MTLS. You shall comply, or ensure that your Customer complies, with the obligations of persons installing, operating or managing MLTS, as the case may be, set for the Section 9.16 of the rules of the Federal Communications Commission, 47 C.F.R. § 9.16.
When used in an MLTS, Service is Pre-configured to enable users to directly dial 911 as soon as the system is able to initiate calls to the PSTN, so long as you install and operate the MLTS properly. You shall Configure the Service such that a user may directly initiate a call to 911 from any station equipped with dialing facilities, without dialing any additional digit, code, prefix, or post-fix, including any trunk-access code such as the digit 9, regardless of whether the user is required to dial such a digit, code, prefix, or post-fix for other calls.
You shall configure, manage and operate, or ensure that your Customer manages and operates, the Service such that it is capable of providing MLTS Notification to a central location at the facility where the Service is installed or to another person or organization regardless of location, if the system is able to be configured to provide the notification without an improvement to the hardware or software of the system. MLTS Notification must meet the following requirements:
MLTS Notification must be initiated contemporaneously with the 911 call, provided that it is technically feasible to do so;
MLTS Notification must not delay the call to 911; and
MLTS Notification must be sent to a location where someone is likely to see or hear it.
Prior to initiating Service, you shall coordinate with your Customer to identify the location to which the MLTS Notification will be sent.
As of January 6, 2021, the Services, when used to provide MLTS or Interconnected VoIP service, will have the capability, when properly installed, operated and managed by you and/or your Customer, of providing automated Dispatchable Location information to the PSAP from fixed, on-premises telephones. You and/or your Customer shall install, operate and manage MLTS such that it is Configured in a manner capable of being programmed to convey automated Dispatchable Location information to the PSAP. It is your sole responsibility to ascertain the Dispatchable Location information necessary to adequately identify the location of the 911 caller.
You shall have the sole responsibility and assume any and all liability, and shall indemnify us as set forth in Section 8 for any failure of the Service to provide direct 911 dialing, MLTS Notification or Dispatchable Location.
7. EXCESSIVE 911 CALLS.
If the number of 911 calls from a Customer exceeds three percent (3%) of the Customer’s total calls per month as set forth in the customer (subscriber) record that is managed on behalf of your Customer’s in our or our third party affiliates Automatic Location Identification database in a single month at any given time, we reserve the right to charge you a per call surcharge, as set by us in our sole discretion.
8. WARRANTIES, INDEMNIFICATION AND DISCLAIMER OF LIABILITY.
YOU EXPRESSLY ACKNOWLEDGE, AFFIRM AND AGREE THAT WE WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY SERVICE OUTAGE OR INABILITY TO DIAL 911 AND/OR ANY OTHER EMERGENCY SERVICES PHONE NUMBER USING THE SERVICE OR TO ACCESS AN EMERGENCY SERVICES OPERATOR DUE TO THE 911 LIMITATIONS OR OBLIGATIONS AS SET FORTH HEREIN. YOU AND YOUR DIRECTORS, OFFICERS OR AFFILIATES, AGREE TO DEFEND, HOLD HARMLESS AND INDEMNIFY US, OUR DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AFFILIATES, AGENTS AND/OR ANY THIRD PARTIES WHO FURNISH SERVICES TO YOU IN CONNECTION WITH SERVICES FROM ANY AND ALL LOSSES, DAMAGES, CLAIMS, COSTS, FINES, FEES, AND PENALTIES INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, REASONABLE ATTORNEYS FEES BY, OR ON BEHALF OF YOU AND/OR YOUR CUSTOMER REGARDING ANY OUTAGE OR FAILURE OF SERVICE WHEN DIALING 911, ANY IMPROPERLY ROUTED 911 CALLS, OR THE INABILITY OF ANY INDIVIDUAL CALLER AND/OR GROUP OF INDIVIDUAL CALLERS TO BE ABLE TO USE THE 911 SERVICE OR ACCESS AN EMERGENCY SERVICES CENTER OR EMERGENCY SERVICES PERSONNEL OR ANY FAILURE OF THE SERVICE TO ENABLE DIRECT 911/E911 DIALING, PROVIDE MLTS NOTIFICATION OR DISPATCHABLE LOCATION INFORMATION. ALL PROVISIONS STATED HEREIN SUPPLEMENT AND DO NOT LIMIT THE LIMITATION OF LIABILITY, INDEMNIFICATION AND DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES WITHIN THESE 911/E911 TERMS AND CONDITIONS.
WE HAVE NO CONTROL OVER THE MANNER, MEANS AND DELIVERY IN WHICH CALLS USING THE 911/E911 SERVICE ARE ANSWERED AND HANDLED BY ANY LOCAL, REGIONAL AND/OR NATIONAL EMERGENCY SERVICES CENTER OR BY AN EMERGENCY SERVICES OPERATOR. WE DISCLAIM ANY AND/OR ALL RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE BEHAVIOR AND RESPONSES PROVIDED BY ANY EMERGENCY SERVICES OPERATORS WHEN CALLING 911 IN CONNECTION TO THE LOCAL, REGIONAL AND/OR NATIONAL EMERGENCY SERVICE CENTER. THE 911/E911 SERVICE DEPENDS UPON THIRD PARTIES TO ASSIST IN ROUTING 911 CALLS TO THE APPROPRIATE EMERGENCY SERVICE CENTER AND WE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY RESPONSIBILITY OR LIABILITY IN THE EVENT THIRD PARTY INFORMATION AND DATA USED TO ROUTE CALLS FAILS TO CONNECT THE 911 CALL OR IS INCORRECT.
THE SERVICE HAS LIMITATIONS AND WE DO NOT GUARANTEE THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE ERROR-FREE. YOU ADDITIONALLY AFFIRM AND AGREE THAT ANY FAILURE OF EQUIPMENT CAN AND MAY OCCUR AND IT IS THE SOLE RESPONSIBILITY OF YOU AND YOUR CUSTOMER TO SECURE ALTERNATIVE MEANS OF CONTACTING 911. YOU HEREBY WAIVE ANY AND OR ALL CLAIMS OR CAUSES OF ACTION BY CUSTOMERS, END USERS, OR ANY OTHER THIRD PARTY ARISING FROM OR RELATING TO THE USE OF THE 911/E911 SERVICE. ALL OF THE FOREGOING LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY WILL APPLY WHETHER THE APPLICABLE CLAIM IS BASED ON LOST GOODWILL, LOST PROFITS, DIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, LOSS OF USE OR PERFORMANCE OF ANY PRODUCTS, SERVICES, OR OTHER PROPERTY, LOSS OR IMPAIRMENT OF DATA OR SOFTWARE, OR OTHERWISE, AND WHETHER THE APPLICABLE CLAIM ARISES OUT OF BREACH OF EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT, (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), STRICT PRODUCT LIABILITY OR OTHERWISE, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER SUCH PARTY HAS BEEN NOTIFIED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES OR IF SUCH DAMAGES WERE REASONABLY FORESEEABLE.
WE MAKE NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO THE 911/E911 SERVICE. WE SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT.
9. CHANGES TO TERMS & CONDITIONS.
These Terms may be modified only by a mutually executed amendment, except that we may change the terms and conditions of these Terms at any time by posting the terms to our website and making you aware of the change in terms. If you do not accept the changes to these Terms, you will have the opportunity to terminate the Services. If you do not elect to terminate the Services, such changes will become binding on you. Such amended Terms will supersede all previously agreed to electronic and written 911/E911 terms and conditions. In the event of a conflict between the Agreement and these Terms, the 911/E911 Terms and Conditions shall prevail.
10. SERVICE PROVIDER AFFIRMATION.
You affirm, acknowledge and agree that you are in full and complete understanding of all uses, guidelines, parameters and limitations of 911/E911 Service. You shall fully inform your Customers of all guidelines, methods and procedures that are detailed within this Disclaimer.