I don't think it's a stupid question at all. Testing 911 routing is
very important, and it would suck to find out it didn't work when you
needed it to. When I tested 911 at my wife's small business (we're
on ZAP channels), I first called the non-emergency number for our
local police department. Depending on the size of the city your in,
they may tell you to call a different policy department where the 911
center for your area is located. I then called their non-emergency
number and explained to them that we were installing a new phone
system and needed to test 911 functionality. They said "No problem,
let me transfer you to the radio room", I assume when they transfered
me I was then talking to one of the 911 supervisors or something. I
explained to them that I needed to make two test calls (one to 9,911
and one to 911 as I have our system setup) in order to test 911
functionality, and informed them that I would be calling back
immediately after I hung up with them. They said "Sure, no problem."
When you do the actual do the deed, identify who you are (full name),
where you are calling from (business name, etc), and that this is a
test call on a new phone system. They will usually read back to you
the address they have on file for your phone number, and possibly
some other information. If you are using a T1, PRI they will also
verify some E-911 information you are sending (ANI? Help me out here
someone...) Also, I think it's important that you close by telling
them that you're done testing, or that you have one (or two, or X)
more test calls to make.
I tried to test out as much as I could in advance, so that I was
fairly certain I wouldn't have to call them more then twice -- even
though they know it's a test call, they may still be a little "short"
with you on call #2 since I'm sure they have plenty of real
emergencies to deal with. :) Along those same lines, use some
judgement as to when you perform your testing. For instance, testing
during severe weather, or during a hurricane probably wouldn't be a
good idea. Along those same lines (and some what less obvious ;),
you may NOT want to test on a Friday or Saturday night if it could be
avoided. I actually used 411 while I was doing the initial setting
up and testing to make sure I got everything right, then when I was
99.99% sure it would work, I switched the 4 to a 9 and tested it for
real.
Hope that helps!
Swannie
On Jul 17, 2006, at 1:05 AM, voiplist wrote:
It seems that 911 is important enough that when setting up an Asterisk
box, it should be tested.
How do you go about testing 911 dialing without getting fined for
calling for a non-emergency reason?
Is there some circumstances where you can ask permission from the city
ahead of time?
I realize this may be a real stupid question but I have not seen this
discussed and I am curious.
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