Now-Tel Notification And Disclosure Of 911 And E911 Capabilities

Dear Valued NOW-TEL Customer,

We would like to make sure that all NOW-TEL customers have a clear understanding about our current 911 Dialing feature and future enhancements. In response to a recently announced FCC 911 ruling, NOW-TEL is required to ensure that you acknowledge your understanding of our 911 Dialing feature as explained below by logging into your Web account at nowtelvoip.com

In the upcoming months, we will continue to roll out Enhanced 911 (E911) to many more states and communities, giving us the capability to deliver your location and callback number automatically to local 911 emergency services personnel. We’ve made it easy to check if you already have E911 service in your area. Simply dial 933 from your NOW-TEL phone to see if E911 is available for your location.
For your safety, NOW-TEL has enclosed stickers to place on or near your phone. As a basic home safety procedure, we recommend that you write down your appropriate local emergency telephone numbers and educate your family members and those who might use your phone on how to use these in the event of an emergency.

1. EMERGENCY SERVICES - 911 DIALING

1.1 Non-Availability of Traditional 911 or E911 Dialing Service. The Service does not support traditional 911 or E911 access to emergency services in all locations. Where we do not offer traditional 911 or E911 access, we offer a feature known as "911 Dialing" which is a limited emergency calling service available only on NOW-TEL-certified Devices or Equipment. The 911 Dialing feature may not work at all when used in conjunction with a Soft Phone, Virtual Numbers or Subscriber provided Customer Premise Equipment. Our 911 Dialing feature is not automatic; you must separately take affirmative steps, as described in this Agreement and on our website, to register the address where you will use the Services in order to activate the 911 Dialing feature. You must do this for each NOW-TEL phone number that you obtain. The 911 Dialing feature of the Service is different in a number of important ways from traditional 911 or E911 service as described on our website page for 911 Dialing under "Features," and below. You shall inform any household residents, guests and other third persons who may be present at the physical location where you utilize the Service of (i) the non-availability of traditional 911 or E911, and (ii) the important differences in and limitations of the NOW-TEL 911 Dialing feature as compared with traditional 911 or E911 dialing. The documentation that accompanies each Device that you purchase should include a sticker concerning the potential non-availability of traditional 911 or E911 dialing (the "911 Sticker"). It is your responsibility, in accordance with the instructions that accompany each Device, to place the 911 Sticker on each Device that you use with the Service. If you did not receive a 911 Sticker with your Device, or you require additional 911 Stickers, please contact our customer care department at 888-601-7100.

1.2 Registration of Physical Location Required. For each phone number that you use for the Service, you must register with NOW-TEL the physical location where you will be using the Service with that phone number. When you move the Device to another location, you must register your new location. If you do not register your new location, any call you make using the 911 Dialing feature may be sent to an emergency center near your old address. You will register your initial location of use when you subscribe to the Service. Thereafter, you may register a new location by following the instructions from the "911" registration link on your NOW-TEL web account dashboard features page. For purposes of the 911 Dialing feature, you may only register one location at a time for each phone line you use with the Service.

1.3 Confirmation of Activation Required. Your 911 Dialing feature will not be activated for any phone line that you are using with the Service, unless and until you receive an email from us confirming that the 911 Dialing feature has been activated for that phone line.

1.4 How Emergency Personnel are Contacted. We contract with a third party to use the address of your registered location to determine the nearest emergency response center and then forward your call to a general number at that center. When the center receives your call, the operator will not have your address and may not have your phone number. You must therefore provide your address and phone number in order to get help. Some local emergency response centers may decide not to have their general numbers answered by live operators 24 hours a day. If we learn that this is the case, we will send your call instead to a national emergency calling center and a trained agent will contact an emergency center near you to dispatch help. You hereby authorize us to disclose your name and address to third-party service providers, including, without limitation, call routers, call centers and public service answering points, for the purpose of dispatching emergency services personnel to your registered location.

1.5 Service Outages.

(a) 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, the Service, including 911 Dialing, will not function until power is restored. Following a power failure or disruption, you may need to reset or reconfigure the Device prior to utilizing the Service, including 911 Dialing.
(b) Service Outages Due to Internet Outage or Suspension or Termination of Broadband Service or ISP Service. Service outages or suspensions or terminations of service by your broadband provider or ISP will prevent all Service, including 911 Dialing, from functioning.
(c) Service Outage Due to Suspension or Termination of Your NOW-TEL Account. Service outages due to suspension or termination of your account will prevent all Service, including 911 Dialing, from functioning.
(d) Service Outages Due to ISP or Broadband Provider Blocking of Ports or Other Acts. Your ISP or broadband provider or other third party may intentionally or inadvertently block the ports over which the Service is provided or otherwise impede the usage of the Service. In that event, provided that you alert us to this situation, we will attempt to work with you to resolve the issue. During the period that the ports are being blocked or your Service is impeded, and unless and until the blocking or impediment is removed or the blocking or impediment is otherwise resolved, your Service, including the 911 Dialing feature, may not function. You acknowledge that NOW-TEL is not responsible for the blocking of ports by your ISP or broadband provider or any other impediment to your usage of the Service, and any loss of service, including 911 Dialing, that may result. In the event you lose service as a result of blocking of ports or any other impediment to your usage of the Service, you will continue to be responsible for payment of the Service charges unless and until you terminate the Service in accordance with this Agreement.
(e) Other Service Outages. If there is a Service outage for any reason, such outage will prevent all Service, including 911 Dialing, from functioning. Such outages may occur for a variety of reasons, including, but not limited to, those reasons described elsewhere in this Agreement.

1.6 Re-Activation Required if You Change Your Number or Add or Port New Numbers. 911 Dialing does not function if you change your phone number or if you add or port new phone numbers to your account, unless and until you successfully register your location of use for each changed, newly added or newly ported phone number.

1.7 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 the Service as compared to traditional 911 dialing over traditional public telephone networks.

1.8 Possible Lack of Automatic Number Identification. It may or may not be possible for the local emergency personnel to automatically obtain your phone number when you use 911 Dialing. Our system is configured to send the automatic number identification information; however, one or more telephone companies, not us, route the traffic to the emergency response center and that center may not be capable of receiving and passing on that information. As a result, the operator who answers your 911 Dialing call may not be able to automatically obtain your phone number and call you back if the call is not completed or is not forwarded, is dropped or disconnected, if you are unable to speak to tell the operator your phone number, or if the Service is not operational for any reason.

1.9 No Automated Location Identification. In most service areas, it is not possible at this time to transmit to the local emergency response center the address that you registered for 911 Dialing. You will need to state the nature of your emergency promptly and clearly, including your location (and possibly your telephone number), as the operator will not have this information. Emergency personnel will not be able to find your location if the call is not completed or is not forwarded, is dropped or disconnected, if you are unable to speak to tell the operator your location, or if the Service is not operational for any reason.

1.10 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 NOW-TEL 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 NOW-TEL, its officers, directors, employees, affiliates and agents and any other service provider who furnishes services to you in connection the Service, 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 Service, including 911 Dialing, incorrectly routed 911 Dialing calls, and/or the inability of any user of the Service to be able to use 911 Dialing or access emergency service personnel.

1.11 Alternate 911 Arrangements. If you are not comfortable with the limitations of the 911 Dialing service, you should consider having an alternate means of accessing traditional 911 or E911 services or terminating the Service.

Sincerely,
NOW-TEL Customer Care

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