"I couldn't possibly fail to disagree with you less."
15 November 2005911 and all thatThe FCC has decreed that Phase II of Enhanced 911 for wireless phones shall be implemented by wireless providers by the end of this year. My wireless carrier has already certified that it can meet the FCC's specs in every county in the central part of the state except McClain, and that won't take long. But it takes two for this particular tango: the local 911 implementation has to be upgraded to work with the Phase II specs, and it hasn't — yet. To finance the upgrade, there's going to be, you guessed it, an election, in which voters will be asked to approve a 50-cent monthly charge on their cell bills to cover the cost of E911 Phase II. On balance, this seems like a good idea, since, according to proponents, more than half the calls to 911 in this area are made by cell phones, which can't be located precisely under the older technology, resulting in delays.
There are two primary location technologies that can be used with the wireless 9-1-1 system. The first one is called GSM (Global System for Mobile communications), and it utilizes a global positioning system chip in the telephone that transmits latitude and longitude information through satellites and cell phone towers. The second method is called "triangulation," and it uses several wireless towers in the area working in unison to triangulate and estimate the location of the call by providing latitude and longitude coordinates. The latitude and longitude data works through a map that the dispatcher will have on a computer screen, which will pinpoint the caller’s location and provide directions to responding police, fire and EMS units.
If I'm reading this correctly, GSM phones can be read directly; CDMA and TDMA phones will require the triangulation method. (I have GSM.) Were my paranoia at elevated levels, I might be concerned that the powers that be could track my every move with Phase II, but they insist that the location parameters are transmitted back to HQ only when a 911 call is placed. The election in central Oklahoma (six counties) will be on the 13th of December. Posted at 6:23 AM to SoonerlandNot being necessarily paranoid (I prefer to call my level of awareness... "cautious") I was pleasantly suprised to find my cel phone had 2 internal settings for location technology: 911/emergency only and ON all the time ... the default being 911 only. It was nice to have the default set to the least invasive ... but then I thought "with the Patriot Act I bet that's merely a "feel good" toggle.". Is it just me or are those pesky black helicopters back? Posted by: Ron at 7:57 AM on 15 November 2005I've used my cellphone to dial 911 a couple of times now, and I've always just come right out and told them, as best I could, where the emergency was, though in both cases I was where I could see it when I called. And right this minute I can't recall whether it was my new GSM phone I was using in those instances, or the old CDMA phone. Either way, I don't mind the idea they could, if necessary, locate me by GPS if I were having an emergency, and I don't know of any valid reason they'd want to do so otherwise. Those who are, need only borrow the obvious trick used in various episodes of one of the three Star Trek series set more or less contemporaneously, and leave the damn com-badge -- er, I mean cellphone -- behind when they go skulking. Posted by: McGehee at 10:04 AM on 15 November 2005This might lead to people deliberately not bringing along their cell phones. Posted by: Eric Scheie at 5:53 PM on 15 November 2005 |