Registering and Updating Your Emergency Address

An accurate emergency address is what makes 911 work on your ReliaRing service. Everything lives under Emergency (E911) in the left navigation. If you are new to internet-based 911, read How 911 Works on an Internet Phone Service first.

First time: Set up emergency calling

The first time an administrator opens Emergency (E911), the Set up emergency calling flow walks through five short steps. You can leave and come back — it picks up where you stopped (Resume setup on the Overview tab).

1. Company address — confirm your company default emergency address. We create it from your sign-up business address; add the floor, suite or room so responders find the right door.
2. Who gets alerted — the people emailed or texted when someone dials 911. Your own details are filled in to start. See Kari's Law: Alerting Your Team When Someone Dials 911.
3. Your people — everyone without their own address uses the company default. You can give anyone their own address later.
4. Limitations — read and acknowledge the VoIP 911 limitations. This step cannot be skipped.
5. 933 test — optionally place a free test call that reads back the address and callback number we would send.

Before you add an address

• Have the complete physical street address ready. Emergency addresses must be a real street address in Canada or the United States — a P.O. box will not work.
• Include the building, floor, suite or room. In a larger building, the street address alone can send responders to the lobby.

Adding an emergency address

1. Go to Emergency (E911) → Addresses and click Add emergency address.
2. Give it a name you will recognize, such as "Main office" or "North workshop".
3. Start typing the address and pick the match, or fill in the street, building/floor/room, city, province or state, postal or ZIP code and country.
4. Save. The address is checked against the emergency database:
   • Validated — ready to use.
   • Needs a small correction — accept the suggested spelling or format, then save.
   • Could not be confirmed — this can happen with new construction or rural addresses. Drop a pin on the map to confirm the exact spot.

To make an address the one everybody inherits, choose Set as company default on the Addresses tab.

Giving someone their own emergency address

Every user, extension, phone number and SIP trunk has an Emergency registration — the address and callback number a 911 call from it sends. There are two places to change it, and they edit the same thing:

• Emergency (E911) → Coverage — the full list of who calls 911 from where. Click Change on a row, or select several rows and assign one address to all of them.
• The user's, extension's, phone number's or trunk's own page — the Emergency registration card shows the current address, where it comes from, the callback number and the status. Click Change.

In the editor, pick an existing address (or add a new one), optionally choose a callback number, and check A 911 call from here will send before you save. Choose Inherit to go back to the company default (or, for a number, to its user or trunk).

Good to know

• A phone number assigned to a person uses that person's emergency registration. To change it, edit the person. A number that several people share (a front desk line) should be unassigned from any one person so it can have its own address.
• Extensions without a person — a lobby, warehouse or conference-room phone — can have their own address and callback number.
• Callback number — the number the dispatcher calls back if the call drops. By default it is the caller's own number; for someone without a number of their own you can pick a shared one, such as the main line.

Status

• Ready — the address is live on the emergency network.
• Provisioning — we are registering it; this usually takes a few minutes.
• Needs address / Needs callback number — finish the registration.
• Failed — use Retry registration on the card, or contact support.

Updating an address

When an address changes, edit it on the Addresses tab — everyone who uses it is updated. When a person moves, change their emergency registration. Wait a few minutes, then confirm with a 933 test call.

Troubleshooting

• The Overview tab says something needs attention. Each readiness check links straight to the place to fix it.
• Address will not validate. Check the spelling and try the suggested format, or use the map pin. If it still fails, contact support.
• I cannot change a phone number's address. It belongs to a person — edit that person's emergency registration instead.

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Related articles

• How 911 Works on an Internet Phone Service
• Kari's Law: Alerting Your Team When Someone Dials 911
• Moving Offices: Updating Your Emergency Address

For a real emergency, always dial 911.