In a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) released last week, the FCC sought input on the state of 911 capabilities in office and other enterprise environments (Enterprise Communications Systems, or “ECS”). The FCC expressed concern about continuing reports of several difficulties in accessing 911 services through ECS, including:
- Lack of direct 911 dialing – e.g., a requirement to dial 9-911 to dial out to emergency services.
- Lack of ability to route calls to the closest Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP).
- Failure of some ECS networks to provide PSAPs with detailed information about the caller’s location.