When you dial 911 on your cell phone, the call goes to what is technically known as a public safety answering point. In layman's terms, that's an emergency dispatcher.
But most emergency dispatchers, after tapping into a local carrier's database for your phone number and location, will receive the message "record not found."
"Basically you can guarantee that whenever you dial 911, the call will go somewhere," said Michael Chu, director of enhanced 911 services for consulting firm inCode Telecom Group. "The challenge is getting the call to the PSAP closest to you."
A year ago, no PSAP could pinpoint the location of cell-phone callers.
While most still can't, the wireless phone companies in charge of implementing the necessary tools have made "enhanced" 911, or e911, a priority.
Today, certain wireless carriers in limited areas such as the state of Rhode Island, St. Clair and Cook Counties in Illinois, Lake County in Indiana and Greater Harris County in Texas are set up to give emergency dispatchers precise details about cell-phone users' locations. Some of these carriers even sell cell phones with global positioning system chips to make location readings even more accurate.
While most of the local telephone companies aren't set up to retrieve emergency cell-phone calls, and many PSAPs need to request the service in order for the system to work, Chu said that the events of Sept. 11 have "absolutely" had an impact on wireless carriers placing e911 on their radar screens.
"I've definitely seen carriers really focusing a lot of their resources on this," he said.
But the Federal Communications Commission, which is overseeing the carriers' implementation of e911 services, may have also had a hand in speeding up its plans. The FCC and Cingular Wireless entered a "consent decree" when the wireless provider failed to meet a deadline to implement some e911 technology. Cingular said it has fulfilled its part of the agreement and paid $100,000 to the FCC.
Other carriers face fines if they don't stick with their timelines to amp up their e911 systems.
All the carriers are under deadlines and must file quarterly reports with the FCC to ensure they all comply with the e911 mandate by 2005. Under the FCC rules, all wireless carriers must have their infrastructure ready and sell handsets that can handle emergency 911 calls by 2005.
That's not to say it will be safe to assume every 911 call is being handled by a nearby emergency operator and that help is on the way.
Travis Larson, spokesman for the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, said many states have yet to set aside money for the software and hardware upgrades emergency operators need to accommodate e911 calls.
Dan Hoskins, vice president for Intrado, a company helping carriers prepare for e911 calls, points out that only recently did the FCC begin addressing the operators and local phone companies which need to upgrade their systems to process such calls.
"Most of the focus has been on the wireless carrier to do their part," Hoskins said. "I don't think it is realized how the wireless carrier is only one player on this team."
