State closer to being able to locate cell phone calls
from Foster's Daily Democrat.

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

Meaning they can also pinpoint the location of cell phone users not making emergency calls.

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State closer to being able to locate cell phone calls

CONCORD, N.H. (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 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 home 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.

posted by prof_booty | 09:09 AM