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Emergency 911 on your mobile “is not like in the movies”
Almost a year ago the CRTC issued a statement that mandated that Canadian wireless service providers had a firm deadline of February 1st, 2010 to upgrade their 911 services. The main reason for the upgrade was because the technology was severely lacking to pinpoint urgent calls and caused a number of deaths. Plus as cellphones have become more popular the total number of 911 calls from a mobile now is at 50%.
Even Bernard Lord, President of the CWTA (Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association) stated back in April that “it’s going to be a significant challenge to deploy this county-wide for next February”. In a follow up interview yesterday, Lord said there will be some carriers that will not be ready due to additional testing, plus parts Quebec have not been covered yet.
Lord said that “It’s question of time. The work is being done. It’s an evolving situation… I think it’s important to realize there have been significant improvements but the technology is not in place and does not exist to pinpoint every individual in every case… This is not like in the movies. It can be as accurate as within three metres, but in other cases it could be hundreds of metres”.
If you’re in a situation that you need to dial 911 you’ll still have to let the operator know your location, plus in order for them to find you faster they’ll use cell towers plus your GPS in your mobile, but you’ll have to have a GPS-enabled device.
Via: CP
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I think the reliance on cell phones 911 service and it’s ‘requirement’ is scary. As a person very interested in minimalist survival and outdoor adventure I can assure you any sort of reliance on technology is a no-no. I’ve heard/seen the best and toughest GPS devices fail – let alone a fragile little cell phone. Sure, in terms of an urban setting it can provide quick communication and reports but does the government really need to enforce another backdoor to our privacy?
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Wait that the carriers start charging for the enhanced 9-1-1 service fee.
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How is it a backdoor to our privacy? Its for emergencies, and not everyone has survival skills to cope with when they are in an emergency situation.
Im sick of all the people complaining about the government encroaching on our privacy. They already know everything about you, what else do you have to hide?
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The CRTC required that carriers actually move forward and deploy enhanced 911 services that can help in an emergency.
I am absolutely at a loss as to how have technology assist in providing your location when you phone 911, is invading your privacy. I suspect your just might want then to know where to send the emergency response.
If the cell phone is working and has coverage after the incident that triggered the 911 call, then the enhanced function probably will work. If the cell is damaged then you are not making the call anyways. The e911 service cannot remotely turn on your GPS or report on you, so the “government” cannot use the service to spy on you.
I agree that counting on a cell phone to provide a lifeline to emergency services, especially in remote settings and the back country is a bad plan, but it has nothing to do with privacy issues.
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All new smart phones have GPS and people are buying smart phones more and more so as long as they can get into the GPS from my phone we should be good.
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To Pederson:
Not sure about everyone else, but I would much prefer that a 911 operator be able to find my mangled body after a drunk driver has hit me on a rural road. If you want to use smoke signals to contact them, go ahead.
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What is this privacy? You’re the one calling 911. I think you WANT people to know exactly where you are for them to come HELP you?
Pederson: how is this different to PLB devices? Besides the technology, you want people to know where you are in distress.
The article mobilesyrup posted is incomplete, btw. The original article is a bit better on the technical details.
Still, I’m wonder why it takes us Canadians longer to implement this. Across the border the deadline for E911 was due 2005-2006. Was the extra time(you know CRTC’s gonna require it after States does it) just simply ignored?
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“Still, I’m wonder why it takes us Canadians longer to implement this. Across the border the deadline for E911 was due 2005-2006. Was the extra time(you know CRTC’s gonna require it after States does it) just simply ignored?”
The Globe and Mail had a series of articles on this a year or so ago. It turns out that the cellcos were pocketing our “911 fees” to the tune of $150 million/year and not doing anything to actually improve the 911 service. In the meantime people have been dying because they were freezing (or bleeding) to death, all over the place.
The irony? The US and many European countries have been able to localize victims easily for years using 911 technology (software, triangulation, etc.) from a CANADIAN company, in Gatineau, QC!
Our cellcos and Canadian regulators have a lot of blood on their hands.
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Oh yea.
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A Nexus One sounds awesome!
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