Dialing 911 for Emergency Services

Please review the following information carefully, which summarizes important differences between traditional 911 dialing and 911 dialing from Ooma’s Voice over Internet Protocol (“VoIP”) telephone service. All Ooma customers must acknowledge that they have read and understand this 911 emergency services disclosure before using the Ooma telephone service.

Limitations on Emergency Calling

Dialing 911 on your Ooma telephone service (“911 Dialing”) is different from traditional 911 service in some important ways. The FCC requires Ooma to advise you of the circumstances under which 911 emergency services may not be available or may be limited in some way, when compared to traditional 911 service, as well as the nature of such limitations.

You Must Notify All Telephone Users that Dialing 911 on Your Ooma Device is Different from Traditional 911 Service

You must inform all household residents, guests, and other persons that may be present at the physical location where you utilize any Ooma equipment (the “Equipment”) or Ooma services (the “Services”) of the important distinctions and limitations of 911 Dialing as compared with traditional 911 dialing.

Service Disruptions may Delay or Disrupt 911 Calls

Service Outages Due to Power Failure or Disruption. 911 Dialing does not function in the event of a power failure or disruption. If there is an interruption in the power supply, your Ooma Equipment and 911 Dialing will not function until power is restored. Following a power failure or disruption, or if you move the Equipment, you may need to reset or reconfigure the Equipment prior to utilizing 911 Dialing.

Service Outages Due to Internet Outage, Suspension, Disconnection of Broadband Service, or Internet Service Provider (“ISP”) Service. Service outages, suspensions, or disconnections of service by your high-speed Internet provider or ISP will prevent all Ooma Services, including 911 Dialing, from functioning.

Outage Due to Disconnection of Your Ooma Account. Outages due to disconnection of your account will prevent the Equipment, including 911 Dialing, from functioning.

Outages Due to ISP or Broadband Provider Blocking of Ports, or Other Acts. Your ISP, high-speed Internet provider, or other third party may block the ports over which your telephone connection is made or otherwise impede the usage of your Ooma Equipment. If you suspect this has happened, you should alert us to this situation and we will work with you to attempt to resolve the issue. During the period that the ports are being blocked or your Equipment is impeded, your Equipment, including 911 Dialing, may not function. You acknowledge that Ooma is not responsible for any impediment to your use of the Ooma Equipment or the Ooma Services, including 911 Dialing, which is caused by the actions of a third party, including blocking the ports over which your telephone connection is made.

Other Outages. Outages to the Ooma Service may be caused by reasons other than those listed here, and may prevent 911 Dialing from properly functioning.

Network Congestion; Reduced Speed for Routing or Answering 911 Dialing Calls

There may be a greater possibility of network congestion and/or reduced speed in the routing of a 911 Dialing call made utilizing Ooma Equipment as compared to traditional 911 dialing over traditional public telephone networks.

Changes to Your Address or Using a “Non-Native” Number may Delay or Disrupt 911 Calls

With traditional telephone service, when you dial 911 your call is automatically routed to the appropriate local emergency responder for your geographical area, or Public Safety Answering Point (“PSAP”), because the phone company knows where you are (this is called “Basic 911”). If you move to a different area and set up a new account for your phone service, your calls to 911 will still be routed to the appropriate PSAP since the phone company will know that you have moved. Some locations have access to “Enhanced 911”, which is also called “E911”. If your location has access to E911, when you call 911 from your traditional telephone service your address and phone number are automatically provided to the PSAP, which means that the emergency operator has the information he or she needs to send you help and call you back, if necessary.

Most Ooma Customers will access either Basic 911 or E911 service via 911 Dialing. If you are an Ooma customer with a registered address within the State of New York, we are required by state law to notify you that your 911 Dialing service is E911, unless you are one of the customers described below who doesn’t have Basic 911 or E911 due to their specific location or situation (see “Certain Customers may not have Access to Basic 911 Service or E911 Service”, below), in which case 911 Dialing will connect you to the National Emergency Call Center as described below.

With the Ooma telephone service, you have the option to select a phone number that does not correspond to your geographical area (for example, your Ooma area code may signify New York City but you and your Ooma device may live in San Francisco). Your Ooma device will also work anywhere you take it, so long as it has a broadband connection to the Internet, which means you must inform Ooma of your actual physical address, no matter what Ooma telephone number you have, and you must update that physical address any time you move.

If you do not provide your correct physical location to Ooma when you set up your account, or if you do not update that information with Ooma when you move your Ooma device, your 911 calls may be routed to a PSAP in the wrong location, and/or the wrong address and phone number may be provided to the PSAP, resulting in potentially lengthy delays in the arrival time of the emergency responders.

When you first provide Ooma with your registered location, and when you update it, there may be a delay in that information becoming available to properly route your calls to the correct PSAP and to provide the PSAP with your correct location.

Certain Customers may not have Access to Basic 911 Service or E911 Service

In certain locations or situations, Ooma customers may not have access to Basic 911 service or E911 service. In those locations and situations your 911 call will be sent to the National Emergency Call Center. A trained agent at the National Emergency Call Center will ask for the name, telephone number and location of the customer calling 911, and will 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, when the customer is identified with an international location, or if the customer is located in an area that is not covered by the landline 911 network. Emergency personnel do not receive your phone number or physical location when your 911 call is routed to the National Emergency Call Center, which means if you are unable to provide that information, they may not be able to send help to your location and/or call you back should the call be disconnected for any reason.

You Must Register and Update Your Address with Ooma

For each phone line that you utilize with the internet-only service, you must register with Ooma the physical location where you will be using the Equipment with that phone line. Your initial location will be registered as a part of the new Equipment registration process when you receive a new phone number from us. It is incumbent on you to confirm the accuracy of your physical address via your online account if you make any changes, additions, or transfer phone numbers to your account. If we cannot validate the address you provide during the registration process, your 911 call will be sent to the national emergency call center as described in section 9(b) above. If you move the Equipment to another location it should work without further registration, but you still MUST update your physical address in order to ensure proper 911 Dialing function. If you do not update your location, any 911 calls you make may be routed to a PSAP near your old address and may result in help being sent to the wrong location. You may update a location by logging into your online account or contacting a member of our customer support team at 1-888-711-6662 during working hours. For purposes of 911 Dialing, you may only register one location at a time for each piece of Equipment. Should you choose to use the Ooma system overseas, you will not have access to emergency calling. Ooma reserves the right to charge you for penalties that we incur when 911 response personnel are sent to the wrong address because you have not updated your physical location. You authorize us to disclose your name and address to third parties involved with providing 911 emergency services to you, including but, not limited to, call routers, call centers and local emergency centers.

Landline 911 Emergency Calling

If you have a landline connected to your Ooma Equipment and you dial 911, the call will be directed through your local telephone service line and handled by your local telephone service company, not by Ooma.

Disclaimer of Liability and Indemnification

We do not have any control over whether, or the manner in which, calls using our 911 Dialing service are answered or addressed by any local emergency response center. We disclaim all responsibility for the conduct of local emergency response centers and the national emergency calling center. We rely on third parties to assist us in routing 911 Dialing calls to local emergency response centers and to a national emergency calling center. We disclaim any and all liability or responsibility in the event such third party data used to route calls is incorrect or yields an erroneous result. Neither Ooma nor its officers or employees may be held liable for any claim, damage, or loss, and you hereby waive any and all such claims or causes of action, arising from or relating to our 911 Dialing service unless such claims or causes of action arose from our gross negligence, recklessness or willful misconduct. You shall defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Ooma, its officers, directors, employees, affiliates, agents, and assigns, and any other service provider who furnishes services to you in connection with the Ooma Equipment or the Ooma Services, from any and all claims, losses, damages, fines, penalties, costs, and expenses (including, without limitation, attorneys’ fees) by, or on behalf of, you or any third party relating to the absence, failure, or outage of the Equipment, including 911 Dialing, incorrectly routed 911 Dialing calls, and/or the inability of any user of the Equipment to be able to use 911 Dialing or access emergency service personnel.

Alternative 911 Services

If you are not comfortable with the limitations of the 911 Dialing service, you should consider continuing to have a basic landline connected to your Equipment.