Subject: [NEXTEL-1] 911-only cellphones can't accept callbacks

From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2003 02:32:51 -0400

911-only cellphones can't accept callbacks

Information in this article, originally published July 14, has been corrected. A
previous version of this story contained an error. Xypoint was acquired by a
company called TeleCommunication Systems. A previous article about cellphone
options for seniors said Xypoint was defunct.

By Peter Lewis
Seattle Times consumer-affairs reporter
An ad promoting a "911 Emergency
Cell Phone" in a recent edition of AARP
Bulletin — the monthly publication sent
to 35 million seniors — caught Ruth's
eye.

Earlier this year, at the urging of her son, the Seattle woman had purchased the
cheapest wireless-phone plan she could find. The problem is, after coughing up $40
for the phone and paying $25 a month to keep it active, she never uses it.
"I want it only for emergencies," said Ruth, who will turn 85 next week and asked
that only her first name be used for this story.
Would it make better sense, Ruth wondered, to ditch the cellphone and, for the
one-time price of $59.95, as the ad said, always have a phone to call for help in
case of an emergency?

Based on the research she has done thus far — and the penalty she'd face for early
termination of her one-year contract with AT&T Wireless — Ruth is leaning against
making the switch. Several 911 experts, as well as officials for a number of
wireless carriers and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), generally
applaud her inclination. "She did absolutely the right thing," said Robert
Oenning, E-911 (the "E" stands for enhanced) administrator for Washington state
and western regional vice president for the National Emergency Number Association,
a group that represents 911 call centers and lobbies the FCC.
The chief reason Oenning and others discourage use of 911-only phones —and also of
deactivated cellphones that still work to dial 911 — is that emergency operators
cannot call them back. "Callback is so critical," said Marlys Davis, E-911 program
manager for King County, "especially if it's elderly people, if they're traveling
around and don't know where they are. ... That's a problem if we need more
information (and) the call is disconnected." FCC officials said they must remain
neutral about particular services and technologies. But they encouraged even those
on fixed incomes to consider the limitations of one-way phones to dial 911.So what
about the "911 Emergency Cell Phone" advertised in the April issue of AARP?

An official with
DutchGuard, the
Kansas City,
Mo.-based company
that placed the ad,
referred questions to
his supplier, Brant
Williams, who
described himself as
the emergency
phone's inventor.

Williams, who is
associated with a
company called
BGW International in
Suffern, N.Y., stands
by the product
(www.safetyfone.com),
which he said has been
available for three years.

Williams said he has sold thousands. Seniors do not have to fill out credit
applications or sign minimum one-year contracts. He also stressed that the phone's
battery is fresh.

Tim Zenk, a former marketing executive with Xypoint, was skeptical about the
claims in the ad. "The phone they show in the (Web) advertisement is possibly
6-year-old technology and is most likely recycled or being liquidated by this
company," said Zenk, a former member of a panel that advised the FCC on 911
wireless issues.

Jim Fishman, AARP Bulletin publisher, said the Bulletin maintains rigid standards
to ensure that ads appearing in its pages do not make false claims. Still, he
conceded that the Bulletin "is not Consumer Reports" —meaning it does not
test-drive every product. The emergency cellphone advertised is "not some kind of
profound product," said Fishman, who was confident that "technology will pass it
by very quickly." He may be right about that.

For one thing, so-called prepaid wireless phones are becoming more affordable and
do not require contracts. One fast-growing company, TracFone (www.tracfone.com),
offers reconditioned phones for under $50. To keep a TracFone alive, customers
must spend a minimum of $17.99 every 60 days. The prepaid package is proving very
popular with seniors, penny pinchers and the "credit-challenged," said TracFone
spokeswoman Sherri Pfefer.

Also, Adam Guy, a wireless-services analyst with the Yankee Group, a Boston-based
analyst firm, noted that seniors — whom he defined as 65 and older — are an
"underpenetrated age group," meaning that proportionate to their numbers in the
general population, fewer of them own cellphones.

As the number of consumers who have never owned cellphones diminishes, Guy
predicted that carriers will try to attract customers by focusing more on seniors
and their particular preferences. That means developing phones with larger screens
and buttons and possibly voice commands. That would suit Ruth, who would have
preferred a larger phone. The one she got, she said, "is for a much younger age
group of people who are more literate about mechanical things."
Before she bought it, Ruth tried but could not find a discarded cellphone.

Under a FCC rule that took effect in 1997, carriers are obliged to deliver 911
calls made on cellphones even after service contracts expire. Of course, the
batteries must work and the caller must be within range of a wireless network.
Again, Ruth's search was motivated by AARP Bulletin, which in June 2001 published
a story that mentioned an organization called TRIAD, part of the National
Association of Sheriffs, and giveaways of cellphones by some agencies.

Jim Wright, TRIAD's Washington, D.C.-based national director, remembers the 2001
article well because it left the erroneous impression with many readers that his
organization was distributing free phones, he said.
"We were getting thousands of calls a day," said Wright, who noted that such
programs were strictly up to local TRIADs — all-volunteer groups, often in rural
areas, that promote senior safety. They were modeled on assistance programs that
distribute wireless phones to domestic-violence victims, he said.

But the well-intentioned cellphone-giveaway programs for seniors appear to be a
relatively poor imitation of well-established efforts, such as the "Call to
Protect" program run by the Wireless Foundation (www.wirelessfoundation.org),
philanthropic arm of the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, an
industry trade group.

Since its inception in 1996, that program has distributed more than 30,000
wireless phones to agencies that provide services to victims of domestic violence,
said David Diggs, the foundation's executive director. The phones have assigned
numbers and can receive calls.

By contrast, TRIAD's Wright was forced to post an explanation on his Web site
(www.sheriffs.org/Triad/), backing off from any commitment to provide old
cellphones to seniors. He said that he neither sanctioned nor condemned the
practice, but that personally he is "not a big fan" of their use to dial 911
because of their inability to receive calls.

Chris Doherty, a spokesman for Nextel, warned that discarded cellphones sometimes
lack rechargers and may have damaged antennas or are otherwise on their last legs.
In a sense, the debate over which cellphone works best for seniors is transcended
by a psychological aspect. Said Oenning, the E-911 administrator, "Seniors don't
like to dial 911. ... It's like they're imposing on the system or something. It's
a very interesting phenomenon we've encountered."

His advice for seniors who get cellphones: "Take advantage of it and use it!"

Peter Lewis: 206-464-2217 or [email-masked]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/135263852_cell14m.html

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---

From: Curt Underwood <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2003 09:35:31 -0700 (PDT)

My Police Agency once received a 911 call from
one of these phones from a person wishing to be
transferred to the high school in order to call
her son in sick!

Curt

--- [email-masked] wrote:
> wireless carriers and the Federal
> Communications Commission (FCC), generally
> cannot call them back. "Callback is so
> critical," said Marlys Davis, E-911 program
> neutral about particular services and
> technologies. But they encouraged even those
> applications or sign minimum one-year
> contracts. He also stressed that the phone's
> battery is fresh.
> 
> test-drive every product. The emergency
> cellphone advertised is "not some kind of
> philanthropic arm of the Cellular
> Telecommunications and Internet Association, an
> industry trade group.
> 
> wireless phones to agencies that provide
> services to victims of domestic violence,
=== message truncated ===

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