Bulk911.com (Bulkvs.com) E911 service with Google Voice on OBI100

[yorplooka]

I am not requesting help, but rather sharing a solution.

I have an OBI100. My first service provider ("sp1") is Google Voice. I needed to add E911 service and liked Bulk911.com's price of $0.72/month. I thus signed up.

(The information contained in this post does not apply to gv911.com clients, even though that is another service provided by "Bulk Solutions, LLC."  Gv911.com clients route their calls through a relay at 14242798234 rather than use the CID "From" field as bulk911.com does.)

First I got SIP setup by setting AuthUserName, AuthPassword, ProxyServer, and X_DnsSrvAutoPrefix. This stuff has instructions available elsewhere and thus I'm not going into detail.

What I couldn't figure out how to do was spoof my outbound caller ID in a format appropriate for bulk911.com to parse. Bulk911's documentation writes:

Ensure that the Caller ID is set to one of following formats:
   10 Digits, ex: "3109060901"
   11 Digits, ex: "13109060901"
   E.164, ex: "+13109060901"
   Caller ID in any other format will be rejected

When my SIP setup was reporting status "Registered" but all test calls to 922 (Bulk911.com's 911 test number) were rejected, I figured it had to be a CID problem. The error message I was receiving was "1 <pause> Not provisioned with E911 service." Where the digit "1" was should have been a read-back of my full phone number, again indicating an outbound CID problem.  

I read through the OBiDeviceAdmin manual (http://www.obihai.com/docs/OBiDeviceAdminGuide.pdf) and came up with this OutboundCallRoute.

Phone Port --> OutboundCallRoute

{911:sp2(9999999999>$2)},{922:sp2(9999999999>$2)},{([1-9]x?*(Mpli)):pp},{**0:aa},{***:aa2},{(<**1:>(Msp1)):sp1},{(<**2:>(Msp2)):sp2},{(<**9:>(Mpp)):pp},{(Mpli):pli}

Replace both occurrences of 9999999999 with the number you need to send to Bulk911.com in the outbound caller ID.  This sets up caller ID spoofing for the numbers 911 and 922. The number you use should be the same number you provisioned on Bulk911's "E911 Portal," ie  "Add TN to E911 DB."

With the above OutboundCallRoute in place I was able to successfully use 922. I scheduled a test 911 call with my local 911 dispatch, and that test call was also successful.

I hope this information saves someone else some time.

[ak83]

A few questions:

You mention ... "First I got SIP setup by setting AuthUserName, AuthPassword, ProxyServer, and X_DnsSrvAutoPrefix. This stuff has instructions available elsewhere and thus I'm not going into detail.".     

Do you mind mentioning where you got the instructions for this? 

I'm able to see the Expert Configuration Menu in the OBi device, but I can't seem to edit the fields within the config menu.

[SteveInWA]

That's all well and good, but I wouldn't trust this setup for something as vital as 911 service.  It's being offered by some anonymous person on the Internet.  Their street address is fake (not their actual location).  It's a private mailbox (as at the UPS Store).  Who the heck knows if some dude is running some software on a laptop in the basement, what sort of redundancy and back-up power they have, etc.

Furthermore, there would be no way to be assured that it even works at all, after not using it for a long time (how many times have you had to call 911 in your lifetime)?  Without a full-function outbound/inbound telephone service on that SP2, that you use with regularity, the only way to be safe would be to schedule regular test calls.  

Spoofing and sending a Google Voice number as the CID for 911 is also foolish.  Your Google Voice number could be out of service, or some forwarding phone might be set up improperly and grab the call, or any number of other failure scenarios.  At the time of your outbound call to 911, you aren't actually using the Google Voice service, so you are not confirming that the 911 operator can call you back.  By contrast, subscribing to 911 service from a full-service SIP ITSP means you will be making a legitimate call to 911, on a service you know works at the time of the call, which will be the SAME service used for a callback.

Getting more reliable 911 service from an actual CLEC like Callcentric is only a few more dollars a YEAR.  Think how much you pay for homeowner's or renter's insurance; this is a rounding error.

[robartsd]

A few questions:

You mention ... "First I got SIP setup by setting AuthUserName, AuthPassword, ProxyServer, and X_DnsSrvAutoPrefix. This stuff has instructions available elsewhere and thus I'm not going into detail.".     

Do you mind mentioning where you got the instructions for this? 

I'm able to see the Expert Configuration Menu in the OBi device, but I can't seem to edit the fields within the config menu.

To edit fields in the expert configuration, you have to make sure both the "Device Default" and "OBiTALK Settings" check boxes for the setting are unchecked.

My guess is that the OP used the SIP settings from BulkVS.com's termination portal (the only place I find SIP registration credentials on their site). I imagine that 911 calls (or 922 test calls) through this service would deduct $0.008/minute (6 second intervals) just like any other call from your BulkVS balance (in addition to the $0.72/month per registered TN e911 fee deducted on the 1st of each month).