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ITS has enabled E911 calling within Microsoft Teams. This feature ensures we're compliant with federal regulations and is done to ensure that emergency personnel have the most accurate location information available if you can't provide them with your location verbally when assistance is needed. Below are answers to some of the common questions asked about E911 calling services in Teams.
What is E911 calling?
E911 calling is the process that transmits necessary information to emergency service personnel when you dial 911 from your phone. At Drake, we use Teams as our phone system, and information for E911 services will be sent from the Teams client when making a 911 call. The most important information transmitted to the emergency services personnel is your current location.
Is E911 Teams calling required?
To comply with federal regulations, all phone systems must make reasonable technical efforts to supply 911 emergency services personnel with the caller's location in the event of an emergency. Drake is required to provide E911 calling functionality, including location. Individual phone system users are not required to use Teams Calling to make a 911 call when in need. Users are welcome to use their own cell phone to make an emergency call if they prefer.
Is Drake monitoring my location?
To meet federal regulations, ITS has enabled Teams to procure the location of the device running the application. This is done via the on-campus wireless access point the device is connected to, or through the built-in location services of the device when off-campus. While the Teams client does have access to the device's location for E911 purposes, the location is NOT being tracked, monitored, or recorded by any individual, department, or other application.
* For Mac computers, access to the device's off-campus location is disabled by default and must be enabled by the user to allow for location to be sent to emergency service personnel when making a E911 call.
Does E911 work on all Teams clients?
Because of the need to access the device's location to pass information to emergency services personnel, E911 calling only works at its full capacity when calling from the desktop client of Teams (installed on a computer) or from a mobile device (such as a cell phone or tablet) when the Teams application is installed. E911 calling with location services will not work if used with Teams within a web browser (such as Safari, Chrome, Firefox, or Edge).
ITS recommends that when possible, users place E911 calls with their cell phone's native calling application as it will provide the most accurate location data.
What if I don't see a location or the location shown is incorrect?
The E911 calling feature in Teams allows for users to manually enter or update their listed location. To add or update a location, use the E911 Location Setting help guide attached to this article.