Fresh directives from the Federal Communications Commission are changing the way your business uses its VoIP system.
Top of the list: a new 911 access rule that applies to calls made from multiline Voice over Internet Platform systems, especially those used by businesses. Users now must be able to call 911 without having to dial an access code to reach an external line.
In addition, VoIP systems are now required to provide first responders with an automatic “dispatchable†location – the exact place where an emergency call was made. It must be the precise spot in a multi-story hotel or building, giving the floor and room number in addition to the street address.
The rule also applies to dwellings, which are required to give the structure’s street address and unit number.
Previously, most businesses using VoIP systems required callers to dial 9 to reach an external line.
Some Changes Are Simple, Others Not
Fortunately, the changes to the VoIP software are relatively simple to implement. But the new rules also require VoIP systems to install a physical location file on each extension so that the precise location of an emergency call can be pinpointed.
PBX and VoIP providers are rolling out updates to meet the FCC’s new requirements on spoof calls. Now, all VoIP devices are required to furnish caller ID numbers.
There’s still an unfinished aspect concerning robocalls, however, because the FCC hasn’t put in place a specific rule prohibiting domestic robocalls. Earlier this week, the commission voted to ban robocalls made from locations outside the United States, and several months ago it banned the calls to cell phones.
Currently, the FCC is nudging the telecommunications industry toward an interconnected standard under the SHAKEN/STIR standardsOpens a new window (an acronym for Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information Using toKENs and the Secure Telephone Identity Revisited).
The standard could affect businesses that now let customers substitute their caller IDs for something different – for example when a caller wants the call to appear as if coming from a different place or area code. Spoofed numbers also will likely become illegal for texting.
Big Fight Over Spoofing on Horizon
Any move to ban spoofing could become a major fight for some VoIP service providers that have sold the capability to change IDs as a differentiating factor from competitors.
This is not to say that substitute caller ID in the United States has been ruled out entirely, but it’s starting to look like an endangered species.
The FCC is also responding to demands that it react to overseas spoof calling, which means that companies using hothouse call centers outside the country will not be able to use American phone numbers on these calls.
Key takeaways:
- Two major FCC initiatives were introduced into law that have the scope to affect the way businesses operate their VoIP platforms.
- New 911 requirements mean that every VoIP device in a business must provide immediate outside line access without the need to dial 9 and must also include a data file showing where that device is located within a building.
- It looks as though there will a requirement for all VoIP numbers to verify their identities and locations, which means callers will no longer be able to use other phone numbers to mask their true identities.