LIMITATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH THE 911 AND E-911 EMERGENCY SERVICES

Definitions — Terms capitalized when used within this document have the following meanings: 

“911 Services” means functionality that allows end users to contact emergency services by dialing the digits 9-1-1. 

“Enhanced 911 Service” or “E911” means the ability to route an emergency call to the designated entity authorized to receive such calls, which in many cases is a Public Safety Answering Point (“PSAP”), serving the Customer’s registered or user-provided address and to deliver the user’s telephone number and registered address information automatically to the emergency operator answering the call. 

“Basic 911 Service” means the ability to route an emergency call to the designated entity authorized to receive such calls serving the Customer’s registered or user-provided address. With basic 911, the emergency operator answering the phone will not have access to the caller’s telephone number or address information unless the caller provides such information verbally during the emergency call. 

With Enhanced 911 Service (“E911”), when a caller from your registered location dials the digits 9-1-1 from any G12 Communications offered calling service that is associated with a phone number and a properly registered address, the phone number and address are automatically presented to the local emergency center serving the location. Emergency operators will have access to this information regardless of whether the caller is able to verbally provide such information. With Basic 911 Service, when a caller from your registered location dials the digits 9-1-1, the call is sent to the local emergency center serving that location. Operators answering the call will not have automatic access to the caller’s call-back telephone number or the associated registered address, even if that address has been properly registered, because with Basic 911 Service the emergency center is not equipped to receive, capture, or retain the telephone number associated with the G12 Communications calling service or the registered address. Accordingly, callers must be prepared to provide both call-back and address information. If the call is dropped or disconnected, or if the caller is unable to speak, the emergency operator answering the call will not be able to call the caller back or dispatch help to the caller’s address if call-back and address information has not been provided by the caller.

Limitations

The limitations detailed below are applicable to all of G12 Communications’ calling services (which include but are by no means limited to: SIP Trunking, Cloud PBX, Cloud PBX with Teams, and Operator Connect Service.

Customer agrees to inform all users of G12 Communications’ calling services of the potential complications arising from the delivery of emergency services when dialing 911. Specifically, Customer acknowledges and agrees to inform all employees, guests and other third persons who may use G12 Communications’ VoIP calling services of the limitations detailed below associated with all of G12 Communications’ emergency calling capabilities.

1. All of G12 Communications’ Calling Services Have 911 Capabilities that are Different Than Those Offered by Traditional Providers of Local Telephone Services: 

Customer acknowledges and agrees that all of G12 Communications’ calling services are Internet based and that the 911 calling capabilities associated with all of G12 Communications’ calling services are different from those offered by traditional providers of local telephone services. G12 Communications’ VoIP calling services are not meant to be relied upon in the case of an emergency. While G12 Communications attempts to provide access to emergency service, these VoIP services are not intended to be used to support or to carry emergency calls to any type of hospitals, law enforcement agencies, medical care units or any other kind of emergency services. YOU SHOULD MAINTAIN AN ALTERNATIVE MEANS OF CALLING EMERGENCY SERVICES.

2. 911 Service Will NOT Work If You Experience a Power Outage, Service Outage or any other network disruption 

Outages of your electricity and problems with your connection, including network congestion, will disrupt any G12 Communications calling service and you will not be able to use it for 911 emergency calling. 

3. 911 Service Will NOT Work If Your Service Is Disconnected Or You Experience an Outage For Any Reason. 

If you have a service outage due to a suspension of your account due to billing issues or for any other reason, you will not be able to use any G12 Communications calling services for any calls, including for emergency 911 calls.

4. You May Not Be Able to Reach the Correct Emergency Services If You Have A Telephone Number That Does Not Match Your Actual Geographic Location

 VoIP services are technically capable of being used in locations that are not associated with the traditional geographic area of a telephone number. These capabilities can cause 911 problems however. All 911 capabilities will only be available in the location that you have associated with the particular G12 Communications assigned direct-inward-dial (“DID”) telephone number assigned to the Customer. For Basic 911 Services or E911 to be accurately routed to the appropriate emergency call center, the Customer must provide accurate DID telephone numbers as the call-back telephone number for all 911 calls and accurate address information. Additionally, if you are using the service in a location that uses a different area code than the area code in the number you are using with your VoIP service, when you dial 911 you may not be able to reach any emergency personnel. Even if you do reach emergency personnel, your call may not reach the emergency personnel near your actual physical location and the emergency personnel may not be able to transfer your call or respond to your emergency.

5. You May Not Be Able To Reach the Correct Emergency Service Center If You Fail to Register A Valid Service Address

Failure to provide a correct physical address in the correct format may cause all Basic 911 Service or E911 calls to be routed to the incorrect local emergency service provider. Furthermore, use of any G12 Communications calling service from a location other than the location to which such service was ordered, i.e., the “primary registered address,” may result in Basic or Enhanced 911 calls being routed to the incorrect local emergency service provider.

6. You May Not Be Able to Reach the Correct Emergency Services If You Move Your Phone to a Location Different From the Address You Initially Registered

It is important that you register accurate location information every time you move the equipment associated with your G12 Communications calling service. If you move your G12 Communications equipment to another location without reregistering, when you dial 911, you may not be able to reach any emergency personnel. Even if you do reach emergency personnel, if you have not provided valid location information you will not be calling the emergency personnel near your actual location and this emergency personnel may not be able to transfer your call or respond to your emergency.

7. You May Not Be Able to Reach the Correct Emergency Services If You Fail to Accurately Register or Reregister Your New Location

It is important that you register an accurate location when you initiate your service and every time you move the equipment associated with your G12 Communications VoIP calling service.  Failure to update your location will result in you  not being able to reach the correct emergency services center or any emergency service provider by dialing 911. We recommend users verify their address change each time they move locations and update their address. See 10. below for instructions on address verification.

8. G12 Communications VoIP Calling Services Allow One Emergency Service Address to be Registered with Each Telephone Number.

Certain G12 Communications VoIP calling services do not have a telephone number associated with them but allow for placing and receiving calls. Customers may choose to buy calling services from G12 Communications that have a telephone number but then use a VoIP device to allow multiple users to place and receive calls using one telephone number. The emergency call operator may not be able to transfer the call to appropriate emergency call operators. In the event that Customer intends to use G12 Communications VoIP calling services in multiple locations, at least one telephone number will be required for each location. You acknowledge and agree to this limitation and agree that you will obtain at least one telephone number for each location associated with the G12 Communications calling service. 

9. Dynamic 911 is supported on some G12 Communications products allowing for dynamic emergency address assignment.

Certain G12 Communications VOIP products support and allow the end user to dynamically update their emergency address.  These products rely on the devices Public IP Address to detect a location change and prompt the user to update their emergency address.  The addresses used MUST be validated before being used to ensure the proper routing and handling of these dynamic 911 calls.  G12 Communications does not maintain geolocation services that can accurately locate the user’s devices. In this use case, the end-user is responsible for verifying and validating that their dynamic 911 address is correct each time they move locations or update their address.  The Telephone number used MUST be registered with a default Emergency Service Address for this service to work. You acknowledge and agree to the limitations of this feature and agree that you will be responsible for ensuring dynamic addresses are used in accordance with G12 Communications requirements.

10. Validating 911 calling services by dialing 933

G12 Communications recommends that any users who update their emergency address, whether through registering, re-registering, or dynamically, should dial 933 to verify that the address is correctly assigned and that the call will route to the correct public safety answering point (PSAP). You acknowledge and agree that 933 is for address verification ONLY and is NOT a substitute for dialing 911 for emergency services.

G12 COMMUNICATIONS UNDERSTANDS THAT YOU HAVE READ AND UNDERSTAND THE LIMITATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH THE 911 AND E-911 EMERGENCY SERVICES AVAILABLE THROUGH THE G12 COMMUNICATIONS CALLING SERVICES.

Any obligations that may be imposed by federal and state law on operators of private branch exchange or multiline telephone systems are obligations imposed on you, the Customer, and not on G12 Communications.