E911

E911

E911 (Enhanced 911) is the system that routes emergency calls to the correct Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) and automatically provides the caller’s location to the 911 dispatcher. Unlike traditional landlines, VoIP calls do not inherently carry location data — you must register a civic address for each phone number.

Caution

Always register E911 addresses before going live with Nova PBX. Failure to register a valid address means a 911 call from that number may not route to the correct emergency center, and the dispatcher will not have your address. This could have life-threatening consequences in an emergency.

Legal Requirements

Registering E911 addresses is a legal requirement for VoIP providers and subscribers in both the United States (under FCC rules) and Canada (under CRTC requirements). SIPSTACK complies with applicable regulations and requires a valid E911 address for every active phone number.

Registering an E911 Address

1. In the Switchboard portal, navigate to Account → Phone Numbers.
2. Click the phone number you want to configure.
3. Select the E911 tab.
4. Enter the civic address where this number’s primary user is physically located:
   • Street number and name
   • Unit/suite number (if applicable)
   • City
   • Province / State
   • Postal code / ZIP code
   • Country
5. Click Submit.

SIPSTACK validates the address against the ALI (Automatic Location Identification) database. If the address is not recognized, you will see a validation error — check the address for typos or use the canonical address format from official postal sources.

Each phone number must have its own E911 address. One address per number.

Address lookup

Above the address fields there is an optional Find address box. Start typing, pick a match, and it fills the street number, street, city, state or province, postal code, and country in one step. The same lookup appears everywhere the dispatchable address form is used — the E911 tab, Locations, and the customer address on file.

It is a typing shortcut, not a validator. Before you rely on it:

Always review a filled-in address before saving

• It does not fill the unit or suite number. The underlying data has no unit-level detail, so picking a match never fills the Unit / Suite field — and never clears one you have already typed. In a multi-unit building you must enter the unit yourself. Without it, responders are sent to the right building but not the right door.
• Check every field before you submit. A plausible match can still be a neighbouring civic number, the opposite side of a street, or a nearby business with a similar name. Treat what it fills as a draft you confirm, not an answer.
• The data comes from OpenStreetMap — community-maintained map data, not an authoritative postal or civic-address database. New construction, recent renumbering, and rural addresses are often missing or approximate. An address the lookup cannot find is not an invalid address; type it in.
• United States and Canada only. This matches the E911 service area. A result outside the US or Canada fills nothing at all rather than partly filling the form.

Two behaviours are deliberate, so they are not bugs to work around:

• If a match has no civic number of its own — a landmark, or a PO box — the Street # field is left blank rather than guessed, and the form will not save until you supply the real one.
• If the state or province cannot be matched with certainty, it is left unselected rather than filled with a near-miss. Pick it yourself.

If the lookup finds nothing, keep typing. Every field stays editable, a manually entered address is accepted and validated in exactly the same way, and the lookup never blocks or gates saving. Submitting still runs the upstream address validation described above.

What Happens When 911 Is Dialed

1. The 911 call is routed through SIPSTACK’s network to the PSAP responsible for the registered address.
2. The PSAP dispatcher’s screen automatically displays the registered address and callback number.
3. If the call is disconnected, the dispatcher can call back using the registered number.

Remote Workers

If employees work from locations other than the main office, each employee should have their direct-dial number registered with their actual work location.

Tip

For remote employees who move frequently (working from home, travel), remind them that the E911 address on file may not match their current location. Encourage them to update their address in the portal whenever they relocate, or use a mobile device’s native 911 functionality when their location differs from the registered address.

Updating an E911 Address

To update a registered address (e.g. an office moves):

1. Navigate to Account → Phone Numbers.
2. Click the number and open the E911 tab.
3. Enter the new address and submit.

Address updates are propagated to the 911 routing database within a few minutes. SIPSTACK will confirm via email when the update is active.

Monthly fee

Each number with E911 enabled carries a small recurring E911 Emergency Services Fee ($1.25 CAD / $1.00 USD per number per month), billed on your regular invoice for as long as E911 stays active. You acknowledge this fee when you first enable E911 on a number.

Wherever a number’s E911 status is shown, an E911 active — billed … indicator displays the fee in your account’s billing currency, so you can always see which numbers are incurring the charge. On the Phone Numbers list, a billed number’s E911 chip shows a $ marker.

Disabling E911 (stop the fee)

If you no longer need E911 on a number, you can de-register it yourself to stop the monthly fee:

1. Navigate to Account → Phone Numbers.
2. Click the number and open the E911 tab.
3. Under Disable E911, click Disable E911 and confirm.

When you confirm, SIPSTACK de-registers the number with the upstream carrier and turns E911 off. The confirmation dialog spells out the consequences before you proceed:

• 🚨 911 calls from this number will no longer route to a dispatchable address. Only disable E911 on a number that no longer needs emergency routing.
• 💲 The fee stops next cycle. The current billing cycle is charged in full — there is no mid-cycle proration or credit. The E911 line simply drops off your next invoice.
• ⚠️ Dispatch-identity warning. If any extensions present this number as their outbound caller ID, the dialog lists how many — their 911 calls rely on this number’s dispatchable address and will lose it when you disable.

Re-enabling E911 later re-registers the number and resumes the monthly fee.

Limitations

• Wi-Fi calling from an unknown location — If an employee dials 911 from a softphone app while traveling, the 911 call will route to the PSAP for the registered address (their office), not their actual location. In this case, they should use their mobile carrier’s native 911 functionality.
• One address per number — E911 addresses are registered at the DID level. If multiple users share a phone number (e.g. a main reception line), the address should reflect the physical location of the primary answering point.
• Address must be in the US or Canada — SIPSTACK’s E911 service covers the United States and Canada. International 911/emergency equivalents are not supported through the E911 registration system.