911 call routing, separate route and facility group

[JeffonJohnsIsland]

Resident Smart Ones (well, anybody who is on the board, since I have little expertise programming the MiVoice Office),

System has 4 nodes.  Node 1 has a PRI and POTS.  N2-4 have at least one POTS.  Currently I have programmed phones on N2-4 with a Emergency Extension which is the local POTS line.  There is one other person who has programming rights, and person occasionally forgets to program the Emergency Extension.  Since N2-4 are at remote sites/different address than N1, it's critical in my mind callers can't give the address verbally to 911 to make sure 911 calls go out on the POTS, so the fire department, etc., don't show up at the wrong address.

As I was working through ten digit dialing, I wondered if could create a Route and Facility Group for 911 and move it to the top of the Route Groups so it's Order 1.  I tested this using theory using 511 (highway information.)  The only problem I have seen is a 19 second (aprox.) delay after dialing 511 before the POTS line is picked up and the call starts ringing.  The Route Group Dial Pattern is 511 and the Facility Group Dial Rule is 4 Echo Local Address.  I tried adding a # to the Facility Group Dial Rule--I don't think that changed anything.  If I dial the POTS extension, then dialing 511, the call goes through immediately.  Does anyone have an idea of why the delay before the call goes out?  Are there any reasons I shouldn't use this method? 

Thanks,

Jeff

[DND ON]

Your ARS programing is correct. Change your Interdigit Long timer from default of 15 seconds to 4 seconds so calls will be dialed faster.

[JeffonJohnsIsland]

DND ON (love your name),

Thanks for your time and help!

Glad I have the ARS correct.  Are there any problems with adding a 911 Route and Facility Group for 911 and sending the 911 calls to a CO Trunk Group with a POTS on the local node?

From what I understand, this is best practice, correct?  It irks me the original programmer should have configured the nodes this way.  I should be way past being irked, the system has been in place for years (hmmm, I should have fixed it long ago).  There are other problems...976 type should be blocked as well, can't dial X11, except 911, etc..

Thanks again,

Jeff

[JeffonJohnsIsland]

Interesting there are multiple ways to deal with 911 calls, ARS, Emergency Extension, perhaps others?

[DND ON]

There's no absolutely right or wrong way. In your situation, I would define the Emergency Extension on the stations and be done with it.

x11 dialing should be covered by N+ dial rules, but I've had situations where it didn't work and had to build specific routing. I can remember a couple of times that 1411 would work either. I think those rare events were related to the trunks and not the PBX. I followed a standard test document and resolved any issues that were observed.

If you do have to build an x11 rule, make sure it's below 911 and above N+.

[Tech Electronics]

JeffonJohnsIsland,

There are only really two ways to handle Emergency Calls.

1. Emergency Extension: Set to local C.O. Trunk Group used for 911 calls.

2. ARS: Set the Emergency Extension to ARS just like the Outgoing Extension and it will use the ARS Rules to call out.

It is a best practice to have a Copy/Paste extension created that you can copy and paste to new extensions to make sure all of the settings are correct for that site.

Our standard is to force ARS by using the ARS Only Class of Service on all phones so you can have a fallback to a PRI/SIP Trunk Group if it is networked.

Then setup your Facility Group:
  Dial Rules: Local Address Only
  Trunk Group/Nodes: Local Trunk Group

Then setup your Route Group:
  Dial Pattern: 911
  Faciltiy Group: newly created Facility Group.
  Order: set to it to 1 as this is always used by the system regardless of what you want.

Make sure that the Emergency Feature Code is set to 911 and the Emergency Number is in slot 1.

System > Devices and Feature Codes > Feature Codes > Emergency Calls: 911

System > Numbering Plan > Emergency > Emergency Numbers > 1 - 911

With that setup you shouldn't have a delay before the call goes out unless the local trunk is down and it is failing over to the failback site.

Thanks,

TE