A short circuit for cellular E911

A SHORT CIRCUIT FOR CELLULAR E911
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Marguerite Reardon]
It's very likely that when you call 911 from your cell phone in an emergency, the operator on the other end won't automatically know your location. This is despite the fact that most U.S. mobile phone companies have met a Federal Communications Commission mandate to provide location information to 911 operators for millions of wireless subscribers. After years of work, the wireless phone industry is still a long way from full deployment of what is known as enhanced 911 service, or E911. With the exception of only a few companies, wireless carriers have met obligations set forth by the FCC to get their networks and phones ready to provide the service to 95 percent of their subscribers. But getting the carriers to support location technology only solves half the problem. The other half requires getting the nation's 6,140 emergency call centers or Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) outfitted with the technology and databases to make use of this location information. So far, progress on that front is taking longer than many in the safety community had hoped. About 69 percent of the 6,140 call centers have implemented the final phase for E911, according to the National Emergency Number Association, or NENA, a group that promotes 911 research, planning, training and education. These call centers cover about 80 percent of the U.S. population.
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