User Story
As a CSP providing voice calls and real-time text (RTT) emergency services, I must comply with Swiss emergency service regulations, so I need PortaSwitch to
- validate the caller’s CLI country code for emergency calls against the configured list of permitted country codes, preventing fraudulent or misdirected calls;
- automatically hide xDRs for selected emergency destinations from customer invoices and PortaSwitch built-in or external custom self-care portals to ensure data protection of vulnerable callers.
Examples of use
- CLI validation:
- A caller with the number 4915123456789 (Germany) attempts to dial the Swiss emergency number 142. PortaSwitch validates the caller’s CLI country code against the configured allowlist for this emergency destination. Because the country codes do not match, the call is rejected.
- xDR hiding
- When xDR hiding is enabled for the emergency destination 142, Anna's call to 142 and the subsequent callback are not listed on her invoice generated by PortaBilling or in the PortaSwitch built-in or external custom self-care portals.
Business model
VoIP related models
Technology
VoIP, RTT
Current Solution
- CLI validation: There is no possibility in PortaSwitch to restrict voice/RTT calls to selected emergency destinations where the caller CLI country code is not included in the configured allowlist.
- PortaSwitch offers "Route calls with valid CLI only" feature, but it is not suitable because
- it is enabled per connection (while calls to 2 different emergency destinations can be routed through one connection, one emergency destination requires CLI validation, and the other does not)
- CLI numbers for emergency voice/RTT calls are not validated at all, so these calls are always allowed regardless of whether calls with invalid CLI are allowed.
- CSP can only use a workaround to configure this on their SBC.
- PortaSwitch offers "Route calls with valid CLI only" feature, but it is not suitable because
- xDR hiding: PortaSwitch system lacks the capability to automatically hide xDRs for specific emergency destinations from customer invoices and PortaSwitch built-in or external custom self-care portals.
- CSPs are forced to use workarounds like hiding the xDR by setting a bit flag for the xDR record directly in the DB, or remain non-compliant.
- CSPs are forced to use workarounds like hiding the xDR by setting a bit flag for the xDR record directly in the DB, or remain non-compliant.
Stakeholders and their benefits
Who are the users / whom we bring value to?
| Benefit / Stakeholders | More Comfort | More Safety | Tighter Control | Regulatory Requirement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CSP | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| 3rd party (Emergency service operator) | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| End user | ✓ | ✓ |
Use Cases
Use case #1: Emergency voice/RTT calls with data protection
Roles: Customer (caller), Emergency service operator, emergency vendor, PortaSwitch system, CSP Admin
Preconditions:
- Calling the emergency destinations 142, 144 and 177 is configured via EmergencyModule.Pattern in PortaSwitch, and VoiceRouting call handling feature is enabled.
- Emergency vendor supports RTT codecs:
- T.140: Standard for real-time text transmission over RTP.
- RED: Adds redundancy to T.140 transmissions by sending multiple copies of real-time text data in RTP packets.
- Customer Anna Meier has a phone app that supports RTT calls.
- Regular invoicing with monthly billing period is configured for the customer Anna Meier.
Use scenario #1.1: CLI validation against the dialed emergency destination
- CSP Admin has configured PortaSwitch to perform CLI validation against the dialed emergency destination :
Emergency destination Permitted CLI country codes 142 41 144 41, 423 177 41 - Anna Meier with CLI 423123456789 attempts to dial 144 emergency destination.
- PortaSwitch checks the configured list of allowed CLI country codes for destination 144.
- PortaSwitch identifies CLI country code 423 as allowed and successfully sends the voice/RTT call to the emergency operator.
Alternative Flow: CLI Country Code does not match
- A caller with CLI 49123456789 attempts to dial 144 emergency destination.
- PortaSwitch checks the configured list of allowed CLI country codes for destination 144.
- PortaSwitch does not find 49 in the allowed list of CLI country codes for 144 emergency destination and rejects the voice/RTT call with SIP 403 Forbidden.
Use scenario #1.2: xDR hiding from customer invoices and self-care portals
- Continues after Use scenario #1.1
- CSP Admin has configured PortaSwitch to hide xDRs from customer invoices and built-in or external custom self-care portals when end users make voice/RTT calls to emergency destination 142.
- Anna finishes her voice/RTT call with the 142 emergency operator.
- PortaSwitch generates xDRs for both the outgoing voice/RTT call to 142 and the inbound callback with a hidden status, since the emergency destination 142 is included in the xDR Hiding list.
- CSP Admin can see both xDRs on the system web interface with hidden status.
- Anna cannot see xDRs for both outgoing voice/RTT call to 142 and inbound callback on her customer self-care portal, and these xDRs do not appear on the generated monthly invoice.
Alternative Flow: Emergency voice/RTT call with disabled xDR hiding
- Anna Meier called 144 (ambulance).
- PortaSwitch identifies that the emergency destination 144 is not on the xDR Hiding list, and generates a regular xDR for this voice/RTT call.
- Anna can see the xDR on her customer and account self-care portals, and it appears on her invoice.
Wireframes
N/A
Non-functional requirements
- Both options (CLI validation and xDR hiding) must be configurable independently of each other. There might be emergency destinations where only xDR hiding applies, but not CLI validation; or CLI validation applies but not xDR hiding.
- When xDR hiding is enabled, xDRs should be hidden from all types of customer invoices, and it should be possible to hide xDRs from both built-in and external custom-built customer/account self-care portals.
Peculiarities
- According to CSP:
- since they route emergency calls via PortaSwitch only, no external system is involved so its unlikely to have emergency CDRs imported via xDR Mediator
- since according to EENA documentation, RTT may become the standard to provide emergency services for hearing impacted people, but CSP do not have any specific information/requirement on it:
- Most probably, CSP will use Real-Time Text (RTT) support by PortaSwitch which is available in MR123+ (while CSP is on MR120-6 now)
- It is assumed that CSP will be ok with Real-Time Text (RTT) support by PortaSwitch limitations like lack of transcoding, conferencing and recording supported for RTT calls
- PortaSwitch always overrides "Hide CLI" feature (applies CLIRO) for voice (and RTT - according to QA-10273) calls to all emergency destinations, and CSP is using a workaround by configuring CLIRO on their 3rd party SBC but current PortaSwitch behavior is sufficient for CSP and applying CLIRO on selected emergency numbers is out-of-scope for this project
Despite that according to EENA, location is essential for every emergency voice/RTT call (NG112 services must provide Caller location, Caller identity & Callback capability) and PIDF-LO is the preferred / standard format in NG112 (though not the only acceptable option if other national mechanisms exist), location is out-of-scope for this project (for US and Canada regions this will be possible with User location information in a SIP header of the 911 calls (emergency calls via Bandwidth)) and CSP confirmed here that they already implemented their own solution for PIDF-LO via a 3rd party service.
- CSP confirmed that if no "Permitted CLI country codes" are defined for an emergency destination (US#1.1), calling from any CLI country code should be allowed.
Performance / Clustering, Geo Redundancy/ Dual-Version, Porter / Call Control API / ESPF / Monitoring
N/A