RFC 6881 (BCP 181): Best Current Practice for Communications Services in Support of Emergency Calling

Publisher

IETF / RFC Editor

URL

https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6881.html

Published

2013-03-01

Updated

unknown

Accessed

2026-09-25

HTTP status

200

License

IETF Trust legal provisions (BSD-style for code; text reuse per TLP); short excerpts and locators only

Source notes citing this source

• RFC 6881 says user agents MUST NOT place a test call immediately after booting and should wait a random time if the IP address changes after boot. in context
• RFC 6881 allows PSAPs to refuse repeated test requests from the same device in a short period, signalling refusal with 486 or 488. in context
• RFC 6881 says user agents SHOULD run a full test call including media loopback after an IP address change following a disconnect, and approximately every 30 days. in context
• RFC 6881 defines automated emergency test calls as SIP INVITEs to a service URN beginning with test., such as urn:service:test.sos.fire, answered 200 if recognized, 404 if not or if the PSAP does not support testing, and 486 if the test service is busy. in context
• Under RFC 6881 a PSAP answering a test call MAY return a text/plain body identifying the PSAP, the requested service and the location reported. in context

Cite this source record

APA

WarmTransfer. (2013, March 1). RFC 6881 (BCP 181): Best Current Practice for Communications Services in Support of Emergency Calling. WarmTransfer. https://warmtransfer.net/knowledge/sources/rfc-6881-emergency-calling-bcp

BibTeX

@misc{warmtransfer-rfc-6881-emergency-calling-bcp,
  title  = {RFC 6881 (BCP 181): Best Current Practice for Communications Services in Support of Emergency Calling},
  author = {{WarmTransfer}},
  year   = {2013},
  url    = {https://warmtransfer.net/knowledge/sources/rfc-6881-emergency-calling-bcp},
  note   = {IETF / RFC Editor, accessed 2026-09-25}
}