In addition to the better reception traditional phones often provide, many households also keep them for emergencies and 911. When you dial 911 from a landline, the dispatcher can generally see your address right away. Assuming you have decent reception, how many seconds might you lose when you call 911 from a cellphone?
These types of questions are being raised as part of a broader discussion between the Federal Communications Commission,
Congress and the public safety and telecommunications industries, which are exploring whether more should be done to pinpoint a mobile caller’s location. This has become even more challenging now that more people call 911 from deep
inside four walls, often made of thick stone or concrete, and not under an open sky or in a car.
A report in August from a
California group of emergency professionals thrust the issue into the spotlight: Its data suggested that an increasing number of mobile emergency calls were being delivered without the caller’s location in five California counties. While the mobile operators
disputed the findings, the report caught the attention of
regulators.
So before you cut the cord, or even change providers to save money, here are some factors to consider:
911 Any subscriber to cable television has surely been bombarded with pitches to sign up for “triple play” services, which include cable television, Internet and phone service.
The phone service is generally delivered using a technology called voice over Internet protocol
(known as VoIP). When households subscribe to that type of phone service, they typically must register their residential address with the company, which is used when
911 is called.
Most providers try to verify the address, said Trey Forgety, director of government affairs for the National Emergency Number Association, a
trade group.
Time Warner, for instance, says it verifies each address down to the apartment number — or the latitude and longitude, if you live on a farm, for instance — and registers it in a database. So when you call 911, the operator should immediately know your address and phone number. The same goes for callers with traditional landlines.
Contrast that with a wireless phone: When someone dials 911, the call goes to an emergency call center associated with the cell tower the phone is using. The dispatcher receives the phone number and the address of the cell tower and can probably tell the broad direction from which the call is coming. But it could take another 20 to 25 seconds for the dispatcher to receive a second batch of data with the specific location (which comes as longitude and latitude coordinates).
And there is always a bit of “fuzziness” associated with your exact location, which Mr. Forgety described as less a specific spot than a fuzzy circle. And that information isn’t always available.
“There can be problems if you are deep inside a building where the signals don’t penetrate well,” said Mr. Forgety. “Or you can be in an urban canyon. GPS doesn’t work that well with lots of tall buildings around.”