Subject: [NEXTEL-1] House Approves E-911 Legislation

From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 06 Oct 2003 14:41:16 -0400

TOP STORIES
Monday, October 6, 2003

House Approves E-911 Legislation
The U. S. House Energy and Commerce Committee approved a $500 million legislation
to further the implementation of E-911 technology. However, the legislation would
exclude grants to states that previously diverted funds for E-911 services. The
approval of the legislation comes after earlier deficiencies in public agencies’
ability to locate wireless callers dialing 911 from cell phones. (Source:
TechWebNews U. S. House Moves to Fix Wireless 911 Location ID October 3, 2003
(3:32 p.m. EST)
By W. David Gardner, TechWeb News

====================================================================================

  U. S. House Moves to Fix Wireless 911 Location ID
  October 3, 2003 (3:32 p.m. EST)
  By W. David Gardner, TechWeb News

The U. S. House Energy and Commerce Committee has approved legislation designed to
put disappointing Enhanced 911 wireless emergency location technology back on
track. Earlier efforts to help public agencies better pinpoint wireless emergency
calls have resulted in just a small percentage of the calls successfully traced.
Illustrative of the failure of location ID to pinpoint emergency call positions
was a statement by the National Emergency Number Association noting that just 10
percent of the nation's 6,000 emergency call centers have the ability to locate
the precise site of wireless callers calling 911.

Earlier E-911 legislation was based largely on the mandate that all cell phones
were required to have location capability -- usually in the form of a GPS chip --
by October 2001. Few mobile phone manufacturers complied with the order although
it didn't make much difference because GPS capability in phones hasn't been
successful anyway.
“We got fooled because GPS was a global location miracle,” said Peter Dana, a
consultant in electronic navigation and precise positioning. “We expected it would

work everywhere, but it can't”

Dana said a consensus developed that all a cell phone user had to do was turn on
his phone and GPS capability would provide the user's precise location. The
problem for GPS is that there is simply too much interference for calls made
inside buildings or most cars. The answer he says is hybrid systems -- approaches
drawing on multiple technologies. These can run the gamut from using a simple map
and observing street signs to utilizing advanced electronics like
nanotechnology-based gyros linked to improved GPS.

The $500 million House legislation would exclude grants to states that had
diverted funds from E-911 previously. Said Steve Berry, senior vice president of
the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association: “Too often states facing
deficits have looked to their E-911 account in order to cover budget shortfalls.”

The CTIA supports the legislation as well as similar legislation that is moving
through the Senate. Wireless industry sources estimate that more than 150,000
emergency calls are made daily from mobile phones. Location pinpointing is not a
problem with calls made from land lines; the addresses of those calls are
automatically displayed on dispatchers equipment.
Dana, who is a fellow and lecturer at the Department of Geology at the University
of Texas in Austin, said the Wi-Fi phenomenon could be a partial, but important
solution as the wireless architecture is increasingly built out across the
country; the location of the Wi-Fi hot spot from where a call was made could
pinpoint the caller's location, not the exact position but usually close enough so
the caller can be located.

http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB20031003S0010

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark
Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada.
http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511
http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/61FxlB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/