WASHINGTON-The National Emergency Number Association released its “911 System Reference Guide” to help carriers-primarily Voice over Internet Protocol providers-and public-safety answering points plan and build their own routing solutions.
Access to selective router information is difficult for non-incumbent wireline carriers to get because often the incumbent local exchange carrier controls the selective router-even though such access is a necessary component for enhanced 911 services.
The NENA’s guide includes contact information for PSAPs and 911 technical information. It is maintained by NENA in partnership with Intrado Inc.
NENA will grant subscribers access to the guide via a secure Web portal.
The guide stands in lieu of a Routing Number Administrator, which the association recently asked the Federal Communications Commission to establish. The RNA would be a neutral third party that could help with assigning numbers necessary to the delivery of calls to the correct PSAP.
In the wireless context, calls are assigned with a pseudo Automatic Number Identification (p-ANI) based on location so the call can be directed to the correct PSAP.
Fake numbers are unnecessary in the wireline context because the location of the 911 caller is fixed at the location assigned to the telephone number. While most VoIP users also are fixed, they often choose a nongeographic area code so callers in another part of the country can call them locally. This means that numbers are no longer tied to the nearest PSAP.
NENA told the FCC that after an attempt to create an RNA for wireless failed, ILECs took control of the distribution of p-ANIs. Now with the emergence of VoIP, NENA believes a neutral third party RNA is necessary.
In June, the FCC gave VoIP service providers until Nov. 28 to provide E-911 capabilities to their subscribers. The commission also required them to advise every subscriber of the circumstances under which VoIP E-911 service may not be available or may be limited compared with traditional E-911 service. VoIP firms also were ordered to keep a record of the advisory for every subscriber.
VoIP providers were shocked when the FCC ordered them to provide access to E-911 services without also ordering ILECs to provide VoIP providers access to PSAP routers. The commission rules require ILECs to offer access to the 911 network to other telecom carriers. ILECs are not required to offer access to VoIP providers that consider themselves to be information services.
