Carriers Unveil Next Step on Wireless Location Accuracy; Local Officials Say Problems Remain
Local government officials warned concerns continue over wireless 911 location accuracy, at an NG911 Institute lunch Wednesday. Meanwhile, CTIA said the four nationwide wireless providers -- AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon -- are adding new location-based tools to existing wireless 911 location technologies starting this year.
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Eighty-six percent of 911 calls coming into the public safety answering point in Alexandria, Virginia, are from wireless phones, said Renee Gordon, director of the city’s Department of Emergency Communications. “It makes it very difficult,” she said. “Those calls are coming in from cell towers and we’re trying to locate a person.”
Eddie Reyes, director of the Prince William County, Virginia, Office of Public Safety Communications, sees a similar portion of calls coming from cellphones. “The technology while it’s getting better, it’s still not where it needs to be,” Reyes said. “That’s the whole reason why we’re here.” This week, his operators were trying to find a caller who wanted to kill herself. “All we got in an open field was a cell tower location,” he said. Officers found the woman walking in a road holding a piece of rope, he said: “That was pure luck.” 911 officials expressed similar concerns at the recent APCO conference in Las Vegas (see 1808080016).
The nation’s 911 networks weren’t built for wireless calls, said FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. “They were built for clunky, wired devices … the kind with a cord and a jack in the wall,” she said. “How we reach out in danger changes, too.” Rosenworcel said work remains since wireless calls don’t provide the same level of information as wireline calls. “That’s a problem,” she said. “We need to do something.”
911 calls made on wireless devices will grow, said Patrick Halley, executive director of the NG911 Institute. “That’s how people communicate now” with 54 percent of U.S. homes without a wireline connection, he said. Wireless location accuracy “is an important issue,” he said. “We have to make sure that we’re doing everything we can.”
CTIA and carriers' location accuracy plans are “another step on the road to making sure that 911 operators will know a caller’s location,” Rosenworcel said. Reyes said things are “moving in the right direction, but we’ve really got to stay on track.”
“By integrating device-based hybrid (DBH) location technology solutions -- similar to those used by popular commercial services, like ride-sharing and navigation apps – the public safety community can more accurately determine a wireless 911 caller’s location, particularly inside buildings,” CTIA said. “Adoption of DBH technologies will make it easier for first responders to find you indoors more quickly and accurately,” said Tom Sawanobori, CTIA chief technology officer.