Emergency calling
How 999, 112 and 911 work from Smileline — register each number to the location it serves, tell each device where it is calling from, and know what the phone system cannot do in an outage.
Smileline can connect an emergency call (999 or 112 in the UK, 911 in the US) from the browser softphone, the desktop app and the Chrome extension — but only where a practice number has been registered to the address the caller is at. Responders are dispatched to that registered address, so this page is about getting two things right: which location each number serves, and which location each device is calling from.
Calls through Smileline depend on power and broadband at the practice. In an outage nothing placed through Smileline connects. Keep an ordinary telephone or a mobile phone within reach in every room where staff take calls, and make sure everyone knows where it is.
What happens when someone dials 999
- The device checks which location it is calling from (see below).
- Smileline looks for a Voice number registered for emergency calling at that location and places the call with that number as the caller ID — never the practice's default caller ID, which may belong to another site.
- The practice's owners and managers receive an Emergency call placed notification, and every open Desk shows who dialled and from where.
If the device has no location, or that location has no number registered yet, the call is refused with a message saying so. Ordinary calls are never affected by this — a number without a registered address still makes and takes calls as normal.
On the mobile app, emergency numbers always open the phone's own dialler: a phone knows where it is, a VoIP call from it does not.
Register a number to its location
Every Voice line on SmileLine is tied to the location it physically serves. The practice chooses this — Smileline never infers it from call routing.
Make sure the location's address is complete on Settings → Locations: street address, town or city and postcode (US practices also need the state). Registration uses this address, and a location missing any of it is refused until it is filled in.
When you buy a number, choose the location it will serve before clicking Buy. Its address is registered with the carrier automatically as soon as the number goes live.
For a number you already hold — including one you brought to Smileline — open Settings → Phone numbers and choose Assign a location… under the number. A live number registers straight away; a number still on order or mid-port registers when it goes live.
The line under each number shows the registration state:
- Emergency calls registered — Reception: 999/112/911 dials from devices at Reception use this number.
- Registering the emergency address…: the carrier is validating it. This usually completes in minutes.
- Emergency address rejected: the carrier could not validate the address. Correct it on the Locations page, then click Register address on the number. The rejection also appears under Settings → Review with the carrier's reason.
- No location assigned: pick one — nothing can dial emergency services from this number until you do.
Registration is a per-number carrier record. If the practice moves, update the location's address and click Register address on each number that serves it — responders are sent to the registered address, not the current one.
Desk-phone (raw) lines register their handset's address from the routing page instead — see Desk phones.
Tell each device where it is calling from
A laptop or the desktop app can move between sites, so each device carries its own Calling from location. It starts as the member's home location from Settings → Team; a device with no location asks once per session.
- Browser and desktop app: the softphone shows Where are you calling from? until a location is chosen. Change it any time from the Desk keypad's Calling from … · Change line.
- Chrome extension: the popup shows Calling from … under the practice name. Choose or change the location in the Smileline app.
If you take a device to another site, change the location before you rely on it for emergency calls.
The notice everyone reads once
The first time a person opens a surface that can place calls, Smileline shows the emergency-calling notice and records that they read it. It is shown again whenever the substance of what the phone system can do changes.
Next steps
Phone numbers
The practice's whole number inventory — order UK or US numbers, complete UK verification where it applies, bring your existing numbers in, move a number between the phone system and call tracking, and pick the outbound caller ID.
Call routing
Decide who rings when a number is called, what happens outside opening hours, and how a keypad menu sends callers to the right team.