teleCalm 911 Disclaimer
teleCalm, Inc. (“teleCalm”) includes 911 service with our home phone service. teleCalm 911 dialing service operates differently than traditional 911, you’ll have to provide and verify the street address where you will be using the teleCalm home phone service when subscribing to our service. 911 service is not active on your account until you have (1) received email notification stating that 911 service is active and (2) you have received and installed your teleCalm hardware.
Most customers will have access to either basic 911 or Enhanced 911 (E911) service. With E911 service, when you dial 911, your telephone number and registered address is simultaneously sent to the local emergency center assigned to your location, and emergency operators have access to the information they need to send help and call you back if necessary.
Customers in locations where the emergency center is not properly equipped to receive your telephone number and address have basic 911. With basic 911, the local emergency operator answering the call will not have your call back number or your location, so you must be prepared to give them this information. Until you give the operator your phone number, they may not be able to call you back or dispatch help if the call is not completed or is not forwarded, is dropped or disconnected, or if you are unable to speak. As additional local emergency centers become capable of receiving our customers’ information, teleCalm’s service provider will automatically upgrade customers with basic 911 to E911 service. teleCalm does not provide notice of this upgrade.
Certain areas of the United States may not have access to either basic 911 or E911 service. In these cases you will be notified via email that your 911 provisioning could not be completed. A member of our customer service team will review your account and verify that 911 service is not available in your area. If we cannot provide 911 service in your area a customer service representative will be in contact with you.
In certain cases should a call fail to be sent to your local emergency operator; your call will be automatically forwarded to a national emergency call center. A trained agent at the emergency call center will ask for the name, telephone number and location of the customer calling 911, and then contact the local emergency center for such customer in order to send help. Examples of situations where 911 calls will be sent to the national emergency call center include when there is a problem validating a customer’s address, or call routing to your local emergency center has failed. Emergency personnel may not receive your phone number or physical location when your 911 call is routed to the national emergency call center; so you should be prepared to state your name, address, and telephone number.
You must register with teleCalm the physical location where the teleCalm home phone device will be located. Please note that if you move your device to another location, you must register your new location. To change your 911 location at any time simply contact teleCalm Customer Service by emailing support@teleCalmProtects.com or using the Contact Us link on our website. During the setup process, you will be asked to for the physical address where the teleCalm device will be used, which will be used in the provisioning of your 911 service.
You will receive an email notification once your provisioning has been completed which will indicate if the provisioning was successful or has failed. You will not be able to place a call to 911 until you have received notification that provisioning has been successful. Should you receive notification that provisioning failed, a teleCalm customer service representative will be in contact. Again, until you receive notification that 911 has been setup successfully you will not be able to place calls to 911.
Please remember that 911 dialing will not function in the following conditions:
- Provisioning has not been completed for your account
- Internet outage at your location (if using teleCalm Ethernet adapter)
- Poor cellular reception (if using teleCalm Wireless adapter)
- Power outage at your location
- Your Internet provider (ISP), access provider (broadband, dialup, etc) has cancelled or suspended your account
- Your Internet provider is blocking ports or addresses that prevent your call from reaching teleCalm servers
- Your teleCalm account has been cancelled
- Improper configuration of your device
We want to make sure that you are aware of important differences in the way 911 service operates with a VoIP phone when compared with traditional telephone service. Here’s what you need to keep in mind:
Differences between traditional 911 service and VoIP phone 911.
With traditional phone services, your 911 call is sent directly to the nearest emergency response center. With VoIP phone service, your 911 call is forwarded to a third-party service provider that will automatically or manually route your call to the emergency response center.
Remember to verify your location.
Because you can move your VoIP phone between locations and because, for technical reasons, the emergency operator may not have your name, location or contact information available, you must immediately inform the emergency operator of your location and contact particulars any time you call 911. Do not risk sending police or ambulance services to the wrong location.
Be prepared during any service interruption.
VoIP phone service depends not only on your continued subscription (and payment) for the service, but also on Internet connectivity and power to function. In the event of power, network, teleCalm service outages, or Internet outages (including congestion), or if your service is disconnected or suspended due to non-payment, you may experience a failure, disruption or delay in your 911 service. We recommend that you keep an alternative phone service (such as a cellular telephone) handy to increase the reliability of your access to emergency services during any service interruption.
Do not disconnect.
Until you are told to do so by an emergency dispatcher, do not disconnect your 911 call. If you are inadvertently disconnected, call back immediately.
Keep your service address up to date.
teleCalm will attempt to provide the emergency operator with your service address, so please ensure that your information on file with us is always accurate and updated. If you do not do this (for example, if you are unable to speak during a 911 call), the emergency operator may assume that you are calling from the last registered address.
Inform other users.
You must notify members of your household and other potential users of your VoIP phone service of the nature and limitations of 911 emergency calls. To make this easier, attach the stickers available here in a visible location on your telephone sets.
Limitations of Liability.
teleCalm’s Terms and Conditions limit and disclaim liability related to VoIP 911 service, so please read these carefully.
–Updated December 1, 2020