Kari’s Law and its Effect on Your Hosted Phone System

It is important to understand how laws and regulations affect the configurations of your hosted phone system. Having a partner well-versed in the area is the first step to bringing your business into compliance with the regulations. 

Named after Kari Hunt Dunn, Kari’s Law was signed into federal law on February 16, 2018. With the advocacy of her family, Kari’s law came into effect after Kari was attacked by her estranged husband in a hotel room and her 9-year-old daughter couldn’t reach emergency services. The daughter attempted to call 911 on the hotel phone, but didn’t know she had to dial “9” first to reach an outside line. As a result, Kari died during the attack. 

Kari’s Law will require direct dialing of “911” to be enabled in enterprise settings. The law directs the FCC to create necessary 911 calling requirements and regulations for multi-line telephone systems (MLTS) that are often used for communications services in buildings like hospitals, hotels and office campuses.

Hosted Phone System Compliance

It can seem complicated to bring your business into compliance with new laws and regulations like this one, but with the right hosted phone system partner to help you along the way, you’ll be up to date in no time. 

Here is how Kari’s law affects your business’s 911 and voice solutions: 

The law requires that any MLTS will allow a caller to reach emergency services (911) without needing to dial a prefix for an outside line first. The phone system must also be configured to notify a central location, on-site or off-site, that a 911 call has been made in order to help first responders gain building entry.

In addition to the requirements of Kari’s Law, the FCC also created the Ray Baum’s Act, which established the concept of “dispatchable location”.  The objectives of the new rules are for campuses that use MLTS to be able to pass along location information that would be more specific such as building, floor, suite, and even specific conference rooms potentially.

At Universal Connectivity, not only will we help you bring your hosted phone system up to speed with current regulations, but we offer feature-rich phones, scalable plans and systems, and more. Schedule a consultation with us today to talk about your hosted phone system needs.