How do I set or update my 911 address?
Your registered address is set when you sign up and you can update it yourself in the app at any time — and you should, whenever an extension moves, because 911 is dispatched to the address on file rather than to wherever the device actually is.
Every extension on your phone system has a registered address: the location emergency services are sent to if someone dials 911 from it. It is set when you sign up, and you can update it yourself in the app.
A phone line in the wall is an address. There is one cable, it goes to one building, and 911 knows which one.
An extension is not an address. The same extension can ring on a laptop at the office, a desk phone in someone's spare bedroom, and a mobile app in another state — often on the same day. The system cannot see where the device physically is.
So 911 goes to the address on file, not to where the phone is. That is true of every cloud phone system, not just ours, and it is the single most important thing to understand about the one you are buying.
- Open the app and sign in.
- Go to the extension whose location has changed.
- Update the registered address to where that extension is actually being used.
- Save it, and change it back when the extension returns.
- Someone starts working from home, or comes back to the office
- An extension moves to a different floor, suite, or building
- Your business moves
- A new employee takes an extension to a location you have not registered
- Someone takes a desk phone home for a stretch — not just a laptop
If you are rolling out extensions to staff, make this part of the handover. The person using the extension is the person who knows where they are, and they are the one who will need help to reach them.
Say your actual address out loud, immediately, at the start of the call. Do not assume it is on the screen in front of the dispatcher. If the registered address is stale, what they see is the old one — and telling them where you really are takes three seconds.
If that didn’t work
If you cannot update an address in the app, call (617) 693-9434 during business hours and we will change it for you. If it is wrong right now and someone is at that location, tell us that when you call and we will treat it as urgent.
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Talk to us
Call (617) 693-9434, Monday to Friday 8am–6pm ET, or email [email protected]. We answer within 24 hours, and usually within an hour.
Boston Broadband is a service-area business serving Boston, Brookline and Cambridge, Massachusetts. There is no counter to walk up to — phone, email and your account at myaccount.bostonbroadband.com are the ways in.