Setting up nomadic emergency services

Nomadic emergency services provide the ability to dynamically detect and report phone users' location for emergency calling. To enable this feature, the admin must define locations and sub-locations as necessary, providing network data and a specific emergency address for each one.

When users place emergency calls from within a defined location, the corresponding emergency address can be sent to emergency responders. For sites in the US and Canada, this dynamic location data can be sent to both the public safety answering point (PSAP) and an internal safety response team. For sites outside the US and Canada, the emergency address retrieved by the PSAP will be based on the ERL/ELIN model. Learn more about the nomadic emergency services process. 

As part of nomadic emergency services, you can also enable personal emergency addresses. This allows users to define locations and specify an emergency address. The Zoom client will prompt phone users when they're in an undefined location and notify them that they're using a default address. The phone user can add a new location while correcting or verifying the address. The client will automatically save the IP address or wireless access point identifiers for the location. When a phone user places an emergency call from a defined location, the associated emergency address will be sent to emergency responders.

After building up a set of locations, use the nomadic emergency services dashboard to track metrics like the number of phone users that are not located in a detection location. 

This article covers:

• Limitations of nomadic emergency services
• Location priority
• How to enable nomadic emergency services
• How to add a parent location
• How to add a sub-location (optional)
• Fields for parent and sub locations
• How to add network switch information to a location
• How to view personal emergency addresses

Prerequisites for setting up nomadic emergency services

• Zoom Phone license
• Account owner or admin privileges
• Emergency addresses and calling set up
• Phone users must have Zoom desktop client (version 5.4.7 or higher) or provisioned desk phone
• Zoom Web App

Limitations for nomadic emergency services

• The Zoom mobile app doesn't use nomadic emergency services. The app always uses the phone's native carrier when making an emergency call.

Location priority

When a phone user places an emergency call, Zoom Phone will use these methods (if available) to determine the emergency address. These methods are ordered by priority (highest to lowest).

1. Network switch MAC address & port data matches for company location.
2. BSS_ID matches for company or personal location. The service will look for a match amongst locations in my home site first.
3. Public & Private IP address/subnet matches for company location. The service will look for a match amongst locations in my home site first.
4. Public IP address matches for company location. The service will look for a match amongst locations in my home site first.
5. Public & Private IP address matches for personal location.
6. Public IP address matches for personal location.
7. If none of the above match, for a US/CA emergency call by a device that has GPS, report GPS coordinates which are then translated to an (approximate) physical address by our carrier.
8. If none of the above match and the device has no GPS capabilities, then:
   • For users in the US/Canada, Zoom will report the user’s default emergency address if the user has selected, created, or confirmed an address. If the user has never done this (and is therefore still provisioned with some inherited site-level default address), the server will report the location as “Unknown”. Reporting a location as unknown triggers a process with our carrier that will route the call to a nationwide emergency services clearinghouse service, which will verbally ascertain the caller’s location before routing the call to the correct PSAP.
   • For common area phones in the US/Canada, Zoom will report the configured address of the device if it exists, otherwise will report the default site emergency address.
     For users and phones outside the US/Canada, Zoom will report the originating caller ID to public safety/emergency services.

How to enable nomadic emergency services

Before enabling nomadic emergency services for the entire account, you can test it on a subset of phone users to build up location data. After building up location data, you can enable nomadic emergency services with bootstrap mode to identify ways to improve your location data.

1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal.
2. In the navigation menu, click Phone System Management, then Company Info.
3. If you have multiple sites, click the name of the site you want to edit.
4. Click the Emergency Services tab.
5. Follow one of these instructions to enable nomadic emergency services for all phone users or specific phone users:
   • All phone users in the account or site: Click the Nomadic Emergency Service toggle.
   • Specific phone users: Under Feature Testing, click Add to enable it for specific phone users.
6. (Optional) Enable these features for nomadic emergency services:
   • Allow personal location: Allow phone users to set detectable personal emergency addresses.
   • Automatic Location Sharing (Windows only): If selected, all users on Windows will share locations for nomadic emergency services and other location-based calling restrictions calling purposes. Windows users will get an in-app notification.
     Notes:
     • This is required for Windows users wanting to use nomadic emergency services, as the Location Permission setting in the Zoom Phone section of client settings is dependent on this web setting.
     • When the admin enables the Mask Personal Data from Dashboard and Call Log feature, you will receive the following message: Your administrator has requested that you enable location sharing with Zoom in your device settings. Sharing your location enables Zoom to assist in reporting your location during an emergency call and for enabling advanced features such as location-based access and call routing. Zoom uses your location information only for these purposes.
   • Enable bootstrap mode: This mode helps build up the data set for detectable company locations. It enables users to report their current locations as company locations and/or report underlying network data for existing company locations. User reported location and network data must be approved by administrators before it becomes actively part of your defined company locations. These operations will send email notifications to admins (at most one email per day).
     Note: This feature requires users to have the Zoom desktop client, version 5.4.0 or higher.
   • Email Recipients for Emergency Services Data Maintenance: Enter internal or external email addresses that will receive alerts and warnings regarding locations and emergency addresses for nomadic emergency services. Example notifications can be that an endpoint (user, phone device, or location) lacks an emergency address, or that someone has submitted pending locations or network data when bootstrap mode is enabled.
   • Note: If your account has BYOC, configure emergency call routing to set the target carrier for emergency calls.

How to add a parent location

You need to define physical locations for nomadic emergency services. A parent or sub-location has a street address (for example, 123 Main Street, 6th floor) and can also be defined by network IP address ranges and wireless access point identifiers. A typical hierarchy consists of a Zoom Phone site at the city level, create locations for each office or building, and then within each building, define sub-locations for specific floors or suites.

1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal.
2. In the navigation menu, click Phone System Management, then Company Info.
3. Click Account Settings.
4. Click the Emergency Services tab.
5. Under Locations, click Manage.
6. Follow one of these options depending on if you have multiple sites:
   • If you don't have multiple sites: Select the one site you see in the left-side panel.
   • If you have multiple sites: Select a site in the left-side panel to add a location to.
7. Click Add Location.
8. Enter the required fields.
9. Click Save.

How to add a sub-location (optional)

If you already set up a location, you can add sub-locations to further segment emergency addresses. For example, you can add sub-locations for specific floors or suites in a building.

1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal.
2. In the navigation menu, click Phone System Management, then Company Info.
3. Click Account Settings.
4. Click the Emergency Services tab.
5. Under Locations, click Manage.
6. Follow one of these options depending on if you have multiple sites
   • If you don't have multiple sites: Select a main location under the one site you see in the left-side panel.
   • If you have multiple sites: Select a site and then a main location you previously created.
7. Click the Sub Locations tab.
8. Click Add Sub Location.
9. Enter the required fields.
10. Click Save.

Fields for parent locations and sub-locations

Note: When updating or adding a new location, all users need to sign out and sign back in to their Zoom clients for the change to take effect.

• Name: Enter a name to help you identify the emergency.
• Emergency Address: Select a current emergency address to associate with the location. You can also add a new emergency address. 
  Note: You can't change the country/region of the location. You will have to add a new location.
• ELIN: The ELIN (Emergency Location Identification Number) is used as the outgoing caller ID for the emergency call. This is required for locations outside of the US or Canada.
• IP Address: Specify IPv4 addresses or ranges to associate with the location. 
• BSSID (Optional): Specify the BSSID (MAC address of the access point) to associate with the location. Zoom Phone will confirm that BSSID has not been specified for any other locations in the account.
  Notes: This field supports wildcard characters that include asterisks (*) to represent a single character. Up to two consecutive wildcard characters are supported in a single BSSID in the last octet. You can add up to 20 BSSID with wildcard characters.
• SIP Group (Optional): If you have SIP groups and trunks set up in your account, specify the SIP group to associate with the emergency address.
  Note: This is optional and is usually not used for nomadic emergency service. The SIP group is used when a site is configured to support location-based routing (LBR), allowing you to route calls for the location. Typically, LBR is only needed for sites in India.

How to add network switch information to a location

To provide more granular information for locations, you can add the MAC address and switch ports after adding a location or sub-location.

1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal.
2. In the navigation menu, click Phone System Management, then Company Info.
3. Click Account Settings.
4. Click the Emergency Services tab.
5. Under Locations, click Manage.
6. Follow one of these options depending on if you have multiple sites:
   • If you don't have multiple sites: Select a location under the one site you see in the left-side panel.
   • If you have multiple sites: Select a site and then a location you previously created.
   • Note: If you want to add network switch information to a sub-location, click the Sub Locations tab, then select a sub-location.
7. Next to Network Switch, click Add.
8. Enter the required fields. Hover over the on-screen tooltips for more information about each field.
9. Click Save.

How to view personal emergency addresses

If you changed Personal Locations with nomadic emergency services, the Zoom desktop client will prompt phone users when they're in an undefined location and notify you that they're using a default address. They can add a new location while correcting or verifying the address. The client will automatically save the IP address or wireless access point identifiers for the location. When the phone user places an emergency call from a defined location, the associated emergency address will be sent to emergency responders.

Follow these steps to view personal emergency addresses:

1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal.
2. In the navigation menu, click Phone System Management, then Company Info.
3. Click Account Settings.
4. Click the Emergency Services tab.
5. Under Locations, click Manage.
6. Follow one of these options depending on if you have multiple sites:
   • If you don't have multiple sites: Select the one site you see in the left-side panel.
   • If you have multiple sites: Select a site in the left-side panel to import locations to.
7. Click Personal Locations in the left-side panel.
8. Select a phone user.