Subject: [NEXTEL-1] State closes in on wireless-call locator

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 05 Dec 2003 15:32:41 -0500

Monday, December 01, 2003

State/New England News Digest

State closes in on wireless-call locator

CONCORD (AP) – State officials have moved a step closer to having technology in
place that can pinpoint the location of cell phone users making emergency calls.

Michael Geary, training manager for the state’s E911 emergency system, said the
department has successfully completed a test of the wireless location system
that allows officials to locate cell calls.

He said getting the system running has become a priority because 53 percent of
the calls received by the state’s E911 center are from cell phone users. The new
system will provide emergency workers with the map coordinates needed to locate
a wireless call.

http://nashuatelegraph.com/Main.asp?SectionID=25&SubSectionID=354&ArticleID=94706

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

System helps find cell phone callers

Monday, December 1, 2003

State officials have moved a step closer to having technology in place that can
pinpoint the location of cell phone users making emergency calls.

Michael Geary, training manager for the state's E911 emergency system, said
the department has successfully completed a test of the wireless location
system that allows officials to locate cell calls.

He said getting the system up and running has become a priority because 53
percent of the calls received by the state's E911 center are from cell phone
users. Currently, those callers must tell emergency workers their location.

The new system will provide emergency workers with the map coordinates
needed to locate a wireless call. Current location information only displays
which side of a cell phone tower is transmitting the wireless call.

"That could be as many as 16 towns," Geary said. "If a caller can't tell us
where their location is, we obviously can't make 16 towns respond."

The system is especially important now that people can transfer their home
landline telephone numbers to their cell phones. Many may decide to go
completely wireless and get rid of their h ome lines.

Verizon Wireless spokeswoman Lisa Thorne said home-number transferability
only became available last week, and it will be several days before the industry

can see any trends.

Emergency Communication Center executive director Bruce Cheney said
requesting information from wireless providers is the next step in getting the
system up and running in New Hampshire.

"Once we send them (wireless companies) a letter requesting the data, they
have six months to comply," Cheney said.

Not having the means yet to locate the precise location of a cell phone caller
is
one very important reason Cheney cites for keeping a traditional landline
installed at home.

"If you don't know where you are, we can't find you," Cheney said of someone
using a cell phone to call 911. "Obviously, if you have a landline, we know
where you are, whether you can speak or not."

"The largest problem for us is tourists, who have no clue where they are. They
don't know if they're on I-93 or I-95. It's a problem for us right now," he
said.

By 2005, cellular companies will be required to give emergency workers
longitude and latitude coordinates of an emergency caller within 60 meters of
his location, Cheney said.

Monday, December 1, 2003

http://www.cmonitor.com/stories/news/state2003/120103_cell_phone_calls_2003.shtml

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