Call for 911 Upgrade for Cells Going Unanswered
I’ll never forget the night almost 10 years ago when I got hopelessly lost in a rough part of L.A. after taking a wrong turn. When I tried to detour back to the freeway, I got even more lost and more panicky.
I would have given anything for a cellular phone that night. Soon after, I decided to buy one.
Today, along with millions of other users, I regard that piece of equipment as my lifeline in an emergency, my potential savior.
No doubt many of us feel even more strongly about our phones in the aftermath of last month’s terrorist attacks. The need to be in contact with family and emergency help certainly increases in times of tumult and tragedy.
By the end of this year, in fact, the U.S. mobile market will grow to 124.3 million subscribers, nearly double the number in 1999, according to market research firm Carmel Group. By 2006, the number is expected to soar to 191.5 million, said Sean Badding, vice president of the firm, based in Carmel.
The growth in the number of cellular phones--and thus calls to 911--has overwhelmed operators, said Anne DaVigo, public affairs officer for the California Highway Patrol.
In California, all cellular 911 calls go to the CHP before being routed to the appropriate local police or sheriff’s jurisdiction. Last year, the agency fielded 6.5 million such calls, compared with only 29,000 in 1985.
Unfortunately, DaVigo said, from 30% to 80% of cellular 911 calls, depending on location within the state, are not true emergencies. Sometimes people call 911 by mistake or push the wrong speed-dial button. Others have used 911 to ask for directions or weather reports, she said.
One of the 911 system’s most glaring handicaps is its inability to automatically track down the location of a call from a cell phone. When a 911 call is made from a regular land line, the technology provides emergency dispatchers with the caller’s location--a valuable tool when medical or law enforcement help is urgently needed.
Five years ago, the Federal Communications Commission ordered cellular phone companies to have so-called enhanced 911, or E911, up and running by Oct. 1 to help police and emergency workers pinpoint the location of 911 cell calls.
That’s right, the deadline was Monday.
But today, there is no enhanced 911, and it appears the industry won’t be offering it any time soon. Mobile carriers, including Verizon Wireless, AT&T; Wireless Services, Sprint PCS and Cingular Wireless, have applied for waivers of the original deadline, requesting more time to develop the technology.
The industry has come under fire from Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Atherton) and consumer safety and health advocates who accuse it of dragging its feet on providing enhanced 911.
“The nation’s wireless carriers have had more than five years to comply with E911 regulations. Further delay could mean the difference between life and death,” Eshoo told reporters during a news conference eight days after the terrorist attacks in New York and at the Pentagon.
Said Carl Hilliard, director of the Wireless Consumers Alliance in Del Mar, Calif.: “I think it’s appalling that the wireless carriers, charged with furthering the public interest in exchange for their completely free use of the public airwaves, continue to evade their public safety responsibilities.”
Hilliard said the companies have “been fighting, ducking and dodging their clear enhanced 911 obligations--which would involve capital outlays--on all fronts for years.” He accused the cellular phone industry of “dissuading chipset and handset manufacturers from gearing up to meet stronger consumer demand for enhanced safety and security.”
Critics also blame FCC regulators for not strongly enforcing deadlines for the E911 system.
The Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Assn. contends that the industry is working hard “to make this technology a reality.”
Meanwhile, cities and counties in California and across the country have become increasingly concerned about the surge in cell phone users and their difficulties connecting with 911.
In 1998, the California Highway Patrol found that about 7% of 2,000 daily cellular calls to 911 in Los Angeles received a busy signal.
To remedy the problem, at least one Southern California law enforcement agency has created an emergency phone line specifically for cellular users.
At the Los Angeles County sheriff’s station in La Crescenta, area cell phone users can call a emergency number that bypasses the CHP and connects directly with the station’s dispatchers.
The Sheriff’s Department says there is no countywide policy advocating separate emergency numbers for cell phone users; the La Crescenta station has established its line in concert with the communities it serves.
Such efforts can only help. But with the number of mobile phones expecting to increase dramatically, we can’t afford to jeopardize public safety by not having the technology in place to give all users equal access to emergency help.
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Jeanne Wright cannot answer mail personally but responds in this column to automotive questions of general interest. Write to Your Wheels, Business Section, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012. E-mail: jeanrite@aol.com.
