Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Some cell phone services unable to pinpoint 911 calls ; Can't reach nearest police agency

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 09 Jan 2003 13:27:09 -0500

Some cell phone services unable to pinpoint 911 calls ; Can't reach nearest police agency
Source: South Bend Tribune
Publication date: 2002-12-23
Arrival time: 2003-01-09

Just hear those cell phones jinglin'

Ring-ting-tinglin', too

Come on, it's lovely weather

For a sleigh ride together with you ...

In the past several years, cell phones have ranked as a popular holiday gift
choice. What better way to tell someone you love them than to provide them
with a way to get help if the sleigh breaks down?

Although it may be fun shopping for interchangeable face plates, hands-free
headsets or camera phones that can take and send a picture to someone,
choosing a carrier can be a frustrating experience.

Cellular company spokespeople Dennis Franz and Catherine Zeta- Jones
advertise so many options of bonus minutes, anytime minutes, and
unlimited night and weekend minutes that visions of sugarplums may dance
in your head.

A lesser-known celebrity has different insight on what to look for in cellular
service.

Indiana State Treasurer Tim Berry, chairman of the Indiana Wireless
Enhanced 911 Board, urges consumers to check a carrier's 911
capabilities.

"Safety is certainly an issue when people buy cell phones as gifts, and
that's why I want to urge consumers to go to our Web site
(www.911coverage.org/) and see which companies provide enhanced 911
services," Berry said.

Dialing 911 on virtually every cell phone will get you a police agency, but it
may not be the correct jurisdiction. That can slow emergency response
significantly.

In cases of emergencies, the caller may be lost, disoriented or unable to
speak, and dispatchers have no way of knowing where the person is. In
several instances across the country, people have died waiting for help to
come.

In 1997, the Federal Communications Commission set deadlines for carriers
to implement wireless 911 services that would route emergency calls to the
closest police agency and give dispatchers an idea of where the caller is.

Very few companies across the country met 1998 and 2001 deadlines. The
FCC granted extensions to companies on an individual basis, and those
carriers continue to scramble to meet their new deadlines.

According to the National Emergency Number Association, a third of 911
calls are wireless. That translates to 50 million a year.

Breaking it down

The Indiana Wireless E911 Board Web site provides county-by- county
maps for each carrier that simply state where E911 coverage exists. Pay
attention to where you live and where you frequently travel, Berry says.

"Just because a carrier is compliant in one county does not mean they are
compliant in another county," Berry said, meaning you could have E911 in
one county and not the next.

Some area carriers are still not compliant with the FCC's Phase One 1998
deadline.

If the cellular company is compliant with the Phase One, the call will:

Go to the closest police station.

Identify what cell tower the call came from, to better indicate where the
caller is.

Transmit the caller's mobile phone number to the police dispatcher.

Several companies provide cellular service to customers in north- central
Indiana.

According to the state E911 board, of the seven counties in the region --
LaPorte, St. Joseph, Elkhart, Starke, Marshall, Kosciusko and Fulton --
only Starke has 100 percent compliance from its cellular carriers.

Five counties have about 80 percent of their carriers providing Phase One
service, up from about 50 percent last year.

Fulton County has about 60 percent compliance, compared with 50 percent
in 2001.

One widely held carrier, T-Mobile, is now Phase Two compliant in five
counties, meaning the call will provide a more precise location of the caller
with longitude and latitude coordinates.

The Phase Two 2001 deadline was not met by any local carrier.

In Michigan, the committee overseeing the implementation of E911 is the
Emergency Telephone Service Committee (ETSC). In southwestern
Michigan, Phase One is on its way to being fully implemented, according to
ETSC. VanBuren County has 100 percent compliance from cell carriers.
Phase One is partially implemented in Berrien, Cass and St. Joseph
counties, but ETSC did not have a breakdown of which companies are doing
better than others.

Some customers have realized the shortfalls of lacking 911 cell service
firsthand.

Help, a county away

The sound of gunshots interrupted the prime-time programming 21- year-old
Sanford Swanson watched as he sat on his bed inside his mother's
northwest-side home in South Bend.

"I heard three or four shots, so I went outside to see what was going on,"
Swanson said of the night in late October.

Swanson carried his cell phone as he walked out of the home in the 1600
block of North Brookfield Street.

As he and other neighbors investigated, Swanson dialed 911.

He immediately noticed that it was not South Bend police on the other end
of the line, but the Indiana State Police Bremen Post in Marshall County.
The city police station is only about two miles from the house.

"It was ridiculous. Not only did I get state police, but not Post 11 on Nimtz
Parkway, a post in another county," Swanson said.

Swanson, who found three bullet casings in the nearby alley, thought of his
mother, who is sometimes home alone.

"Indiana State Police are not familiar with this area. They wouldn't be able to
help her, and that puts her at risk," Swanson said. "You would think all
cellular companies would want to keep their customers safe."

Swanson's carrier is Nextel.

He said he had several conversations with Nextel about why he didn't get
city police that night.

He said a Nextel employee instructed him, over the phone, to stand on the
home's front lawn to test his 911 service.

Ultimately, he said, Nextel told him the company did not have Phase One in
St. Joseph County.

Nextel's holdup

Although Nextel provides cellular service in St. Joseph, LaPorte, Elkhart,
Marshall, Kosciusko and Fulton counties, it provides E911 service only in
LaPorte County.

"Nextel has been very slow to deploy all over Indiana, and northern Indiana
is no exception," said Chris Ternet, executive director on the state's E911
board.

Nextel representative Leigh Horner said the company has been very
aggressive nationally in installing the technology needed by local land-line
phone companies and local police agencies to communicate with each
other and bring about Phase One compliance.

"It's extremely hard to do, and we're learning more and more and we're
getting better," Horner said. "Our engineering team has told me that E911 is
one of the hardest things they've had to do. It's very sophisticated and
complicated."

In St. Joseph County, Horner said Nextel is working with the local phone
company, Ameritech. Horner said Nextel may be close to the drive testing
stage, which is the final stage before officially implementing Phase One.
During drive testing, Nextel has representatives drive around the county and
dial 911 to see what happens. E911 may only be a couple of months away.

In Elkhart County, Nextel is already in the drive testing stage, and Phase
One E911 service may be up and running by year's end.

In Marshall, Kosciusko and Fulton counties, Horner said Nextel's
technology is not compatible with the local phone company, Sprint. She
said Nextel had similar problems in Indiana's Delaware and Hancock
counties, but there Nextel found a new technological "solution" that allowed
their service in those counties to not only become Phase One compliant,
but Phase Two compliant, too.

Horner had no time frame for when E911 would be in place in those three
counties.

Although the state board oversees the deployment of E911, it has no real
authority to enforce the FCC mandate. The board instead leans on the
companies to take action.

In April, it filed an informal complaint with the FCC against VoiceStream.

"VoiceStream has not deployed (Phase One) in a single county in Indiana,"
Berry said last spring.

Since then, VoiceStream, now T-Mobile, is not only Phase One compliant in
LaPorte, St. Joseph, Elkhart, Starke, Marshall, Kosciusko and Fulton
counties, but it also offers Phase Two service in St. Joseph, Starke,
Marshall, Kosciusko and Fulton counties.

Alternatives to cellular

There are other options to cellular.

Two products manufactured by Remote MDX provide emergency help with
the touch of a button.

The products, MobilePal and TravelPal (available in early 2003), provide
assistance when you press a big red button.

"We're about mobile safety products. We don't compete with cell phones.
Most of our customers will have our product and a cell phone," said January
Miles, national account manager for SecureAlert Inc., which markets the
PAL products.

The MobilePal strongly resembles a cell phone, but the only outgoing call
you can make on it is to a PAL operator, which you do by pressing a big red
button.

The MobilePal is portable and runs on lithium batteries. It features Global
Positioning System technology, which allows the PAL operator to pinpoint
your exact location through satellites. The operator can then contact the
corresponding law enforcement agency about the emergency, with your
exact location.

After the initial $199 cost, services charges begin at $9.95 a month.

The TravelPal plugs into a cigarette lighter and is not portable. It also has a
big red button and GPS technology.

TravelPal is similar to OnStar, which is available in many new cars as a way
to talk to an operator who, with GPS, can locate where you are and send
help to you. TravelPal will be marketed as a way to bring GPS technology
with you in rental cars as you travel on business across the country.

The cost of TravelPal has not yet been determined, Miles said.

"We provide mobile monitoring. Now people can leave their home, where
they may have a security system, and still have monitoring and feel safe 24
hours, seven days a week," Miles said.

By the time cellular companies have Phase Two implemented, that, too,
should provide customers with a similar sense of security.

Staff writer Gwen O'Brien:

[email-masked]

(574) 235-6333

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