Automatic Location Identification (ALI)
Automatic Location Identification (ALI) is the automatic display of the caller’s phone number, call location, and supplementary emergency services location information at the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP).
This information comes from a secure database which is queried by the PSAP at the time of an emergency call. ALIs can be national or managed at the local level by individual jurisdictions.
How is Bandwidth involved with ALI?
The Bandwidth ALI database is the location information gateway to the country’s 911 ALI systems. Bandwidth has connectivity to regional ALI databases with every LEC ALI service provider in the country. The LEC ALI systems steer ALI queries to Bandwidth when a Bandwidth 911-enabled phone number is involved in a call to 911.
What are the benefits of ALI?
ALI steering is a function of the ALI system that enables access to the Bandwidth ALI system to retrieve dynamic location information. These ALI tables are accessed when a PSAP issues a bid for ALI display. A query received from a PSAP by the LEC ALI that contains a Bandwidth emergency service query key (ESQK) will cause a query to be sent to Bandwidth’s ALI system for retrieval of the caller’s information.