911 officials say wireless companies are dragging their feet

[Guest guest]

I saw this on http://www.boston.com today, and thought some of you might be

interested.

911 officials say wireless companies are dragging their feet

By Associated Press, 10/22/2001   > CONCORD, N.H. -- Officials at New

Hampshire's 911 emergency center say wireless telephone companies are

dragging their feet with improvements that would help cell phone callers in

need.

Calls from regular phones automatically give dispatchers the address of the

phone. Cell calls don't give that information, and because many callers don't

know where they are, response can be delayed.

The federal government allowed wireless companies to miss an Oct. 1 deadline

to upgrade their systems, and companies don't expect the improvements for

another five years.

Jack O'Connor, at New Hampshire's Bureau of Emergency Services, said the

state system is one of the few ready to accept the cell phone information. He

says the delay is frustrating.

Cell companies said it will take more time to come up with the complicated

equipment to upgrade their phones.

Meanwhile, emergency cellular calls are increasing. The National Emergency

Number Association reported that 30 percent of calls made to 911 last year

were on cell phones. It predicts the percentage will continue to increase.

O'Connor said he did not know how many of New Hampshire's approximately 1,500

daily emergency calls came from cell phones.

O'Connor said the state isn't helpless when wireless calls come in, but they

do pose hurdles.

Earlier this month, for example, two hikers trapped in a snowstorm called 911

from Mount Jefferson to say they were lost, but their phone blew away before

they could give more information. They survived, but rescue workers would

have found them earlier had the call been traceable.

Dispatchers now use cell tower information to indicate what part of the state

a call is from. They also ask a series of questions to pinpoint the location.

But O'Connor said drivers reporting accidents frequently don't know where

they are. Some don't know what state they're in and New Hampshire dispatch

will pick up some calls from Vermont relayed by towers on New Hampshire's

side of the Connecticut River.

" That's not the extreme case, " he said. " That happens daily, going from here

to there. If you're not paying attention, you don't know where you are. "

Cellular carriers and the Federal Communications Commission had anticipated

problems and adopted rules in 1996 requiring cellular carriers to provide the

telephone number and base station relaying the call. A second phase to be

completed by this month would have let dispatchers locate callers within a

few hundred feet.

J. Abra Eegbor, spokeswoman for Verizon Wireless, said cell companies would

have to either develop complicated hardware and software or implant global

positioning chips in the phones.

She said Verizon plans to have the global positioning phones on the market

next year.

" At this time, our position is that state and local government have simply

not prepared themselves for when location information is able to be

transmitted to them, " she said.

The FCC agreed, granting Verizon and other carriers a four-year extension.

But New Hampshire is ready and O'Connor believes companies are stalling

because they don't want to spend the money.

" They're dragging their feet, " he said.