Subject: [NEXTEL-1] 911 technology helps pinpoint wireless callers

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Posted on December 11, 2002

911 technology helps pinpoint wireless callers

Click for larger image

Telecommunicator Tammy Johnson answers calls at the 911 communications center in Spartanburg.

Photo: MIKE BONNER

By Teresa Killian

Staff Writer

Teresa Killian

E-mail

Spartanburg County 911 dispatchers and wireless service providers began testing technology this month that will reduce tense scrambling to find callers from mobile telephones.

The county is leading not only South Carolina but also the region in aggressive implementation of enhanced wireless 911 technology, said David Jones, director of emergency services for Spartanburg County.

In the 1990s, the Federal Communications Commission took steps to require wireless service providers to get more information about callers to emergency dispatchers.

The first phase of enhanced wireless 911, or E911, requires wireless service providers to report the telephone number and location of the antenna that received the call to 911 dispatchers.

The second phase -- the phase under implementation in Spartanburg County -- required wireless carriers to provide precise location information -- even as close as 50 to 100 meters, according to FCC information. As wireless services test their equipment, their subscribers who have phones equipped with positioning hardware will be able to be located by 911 dispatchers.

On Tuesday, Verizon Wireless teams drove to different places in Spartanburg County and placed hundreds of test 911 calls from new GPS-equipped telephones.

Such models are available now to customers, though not all phones have this upgrade that will enable 911 operators to see their latitude and longitude.

Those coordinates are translated on the dispatcher's computer monitor into a red telephone on top of the caller's location in the county.

Testing also has begun with Sprint PCS, and other providers are scheduled for testing in upcoming weeks, Jones said.

Between 35 percent and 45 percent of 911 calls are wireless based -- an increase from 18 percent three years ago, Jones said.

More people are using cell phones instead of lines wired to their homes or businesses. Emergency dispatchers can get wireless calls from people in their own living rooms, Jones said.

"Currently, the best location we can get from that is the tower off of which they are transmitting," Jones said.

That's just not enough sometimes. A caller from out of town reporting a car accident may be unfamiliar with the location. A diabetic becoming confused may not be able to tell where he or she is.

What dispatchers have had to do when faced with that problem is send emergency vehicles to the area, wait to hear a siren through the mobile telephone and then let vehicles take turns turning off their sirens until the closest vehicle is identified.

Spartanburg County made a formal request in April 2001 and work began "in earnest" in October 2001, Jones said.

Implementation of the second phase comes as the result of countless conference calls, meetings, technology installation and maps.

A regularly scheduled system upgrade in June 2002 brought in upgraded equipment necessary for the project, Jones said.

Wireless service providers such as Verizon Wireless had to add hardware and software, though information was not available Tuesday regarding the scope of those changes or expense involved, according to a spokesman with Verizon Wireless.

The FCC developed a four-year schedule for E911 beginning Oct. 1, 2001, and to be completed by Dec. 31, 2005. By then, more than 90 percent of subscriber's handsets should be able to be located by emergency staff, according to information from the FCC.

Teresa Killian can be reached at 582-4511, Ext. 7214, or [email-masked].

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