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To: H. Bradley Toland, Jr. who wrote (4024)	1/10/2002 9:16:54 AM
From: John Carragher	Respond to of 12232

Slow upgrade for 911 systems The latest cell phones can tell their locations to emergency operators. But building a system nationwide isn't easy. By Akweli Parker INQUIRER STAFF WRITER So if modern science can put a satellite navigation system in your car or use a satellite to guide a bomb to an evildoer's doorstep, why can't it figure out exactly where you are when you dial 911 on your cell phone? Truth be told, it can. But the nation's wireless-phone providers say that, even with today's mind-boggling technology, building a nationwide system that will tell 911 operators the precise location of an emergency cell-phone call is not as easy as it might seem. Slowly and fitfully, though, they are rolling out the phones and equipment to accomplish that goal. Late last month, for instance, Verizon Wireless said it would start selling a Samsung phone with enhanced-911, or E911, capability. Using global-positioning-system technology, the phone automatically identifies its location to emergency personnel during a 911 call. In the few places where local cell-phone and 911 networks have been upgraded, the phone would let emergency dispatchers see the caller's phone number and location to within a few hundred feet. But the transition is painfully slow. "Frankly, we are disappointed that the process of making wireless E911 a reality is not further along," Thomas J. Sugrue, chief of the Federal Communications Commission's wireless telecommunications bureau, told a congressional subcommittee a month after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The FCC, wireless carriers, and public-safety agencies agreed on an E911 time line five years ago: As of last October, mobile-phone providers were supposed to have the technology well under way. But so far, only a handful of the 5,000 or so 911 call centers around the country can automatically pinpoint the location of a cell-phone user. Many localities haven't upgraded their 911 systems to handle the new technology because they don't have the money. "There's not really a good estimate of what it's going to cost the public safety community to gear up for this," said Jim Goerke, wireless implementation director for the National Emergency Number Association, a nonprofit educational group made up of public-safety officials and others. The group is working with state and local emergency officials and wireless carriers to speed up what it sees as the life-threatening pace of adoption. While the group has no statistics on how many lives have been lost because of delayed 911 responses, its Web site (www.nena.org) lists several instances where death or serious injury might have been avoided had police or the ambulance driver known more quickly where the victim was. Pennsylvania is one of about 10 states without a law that lets 911 organizations recoup the cost of E911 upgrades. A bill in the state Senate would charge wireless users 50 cents a month on their cell-phone bills to help pay for the system. In New Jersey, such money comes from state and county general funds. But upgrades to that state's 911 system have stalled because of differing technical standards between 911 centers and wireless carriers. Public Service Answering Points, the local and state-run centers that take 911 calls, must request that a wireless carrier, such as Verizon Wireless, VoiceStream or Sprint PCS, provide the means to find its callers. One problem is that most carriers don't have the needed equipment and software to handle the varying requests. "There are over 60 PSAPs in the state of Pennsylvania, and they're probably in 60 states of preparation," said Tom Curran, director of public area policy for Verizon Wireless' Northeast region. So wireless providers got the FCC to put off that October deadline for implementing E911 service that would provide instant, precise locating. The carriers say they have been hamstrung by reluctant handset and equipment manufacturers, and they point out that the 911 call centers must upgrade their equipment before any E911 system will work. But vendors of position-locating equipment say the carriers have been dragging their feet. Public-safety advocates are skeptical of the carriers' claims. "We've been working on this since 1993," Goerke said. "This wasn't sprung on everybody; everyone knew this was coming." Regardless of who is to blame for the delays, progress is now being made. In addition to Verizon, Sprint PCS has begun selling Samsung's E911-ready phone. Sprint beat Verizon to the punch by introducing the handset in October. Still, it's hard to say when E911 will be widespread. "Every state seems to be moving along at a different pace," Goerke said. He said about one-fourth of the states have implemented the first phase of E911, which can tell a dispatcher which cell-phone tower is closest to an emergency caller. So far, only a handful of places - among them, Rhode Island; St. Clair County, Ill.; and Gary, Ind. - have fully implemented the second phase of E911 service, according to the National Emergency Number Association. In phase two, carriers are to identify a 911 caller's phone number and location to within a few hundred feet. In Pennsylvania, phase-one service is available in Erie County, according to the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency. Phase-two service is not yet available anywhere in the state. One technical reason for the delay in implementing E911 is the variety of ways in which it can work. Verizon Wireless, for instance, initially sought to deploy a network-based locating system that would find a caller based on the time it took a signal to travel from the phone to surrounding cell towers. By comparing the times it took the signal to reach multiple towers, the system could identify the caller's location. But Verizon asked the FCC for more time in July because the company changed its plan. It now intends to use the handset-based system that determines a cell phone's location via global-positioning-system satellites. The phone would then transmit its location to the cell tower - and on to the 911 center. The 911 operator would see the location on a computerized map. Jeffrey Nelson, a spokesman for Verizon Wireless, called the company's steps "the beginning of a process." Verizon said that, by April, 65 percent of its customers will live where the company's network has been upgraded to transmit enhanced emergency calls. The technology will not work in all those areas, though, since the 911 centers likely will not have yet made the technology improvements to interpret enhanced signals. Different carriers have filed various dates with the FCC by which they expect certain upgrades to be completed. The big carriers - AT&T Wireless, Cingular, Nextel, Sprint, Voicestream and Verizon - all expect that, by 2005, the overwhelming majority of their customers will be able to make E911 calls, after they upgrade their phone handsets. Despite the slow uptake of the technology, Goerke said he saw no need for new action by Congress or the FCC. "I think the legislation we have is good," he said. "We just now need to live with it and move on." Akweli Parker's e-mail address is aparker@phillynews.com.