WASHINGTON-A broad-based public interest coalition has asked federal regulators to require that mobile telephones provide unrestricted access to emergency 911 service.
The Ad Hoc Alliance for Public Access to 911 asserted that cellular emergency calls may be blocked if made outside of the area served by a subscriber’s carrier and, in other cases, may not go through if the signal is too weak on the subscriber’s system yet strong on the competing cellular network.
Wireless phones should be programmed to access both cellular systems in each market and to use the channel with the strongest signal, the group maintains.
“The Alliance is deeply concerned that if the Commission fails to enforce open access to emergency 911 telephone calls by cellular carriers the problem will become more acute …when in the next few years personal communications services are sold to the public,” said the group in a petition for rulemaking filed with the Federal Communications Commission.
With 30 million cellular phones in use today and the prospect for continued growth as prices decline with the introduction of PCS competition, the FCC last year began examining how to make enhanced 911 service available so that the telephone number and location of wireless subscribers automatically show up to dispatchers upon getting an emergency call.
It is possible the issue raised by the Alliance could be folded into the FCC’s wireless enhanced 911 proceeding.
The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association says a half million 911 cellular calls are made each month. Moreover, safety and security are increasingly driving the sale of cellular telephones.
The industry is working with the public safety community and federal regulators to develop wireless enhanced 911 guidelines.
“The opportunity exists to fix today’s 911 cellular access problems and tomorrow’s PCS products while carriers design their networks of the future,” said the Alliance. “Should the Commission not act today, the risk will grow. Prompt action approving this proposed rulemaking by the Commission will result in a savings of lives and reduction in the severity of injury and illness.”
The group noted that the rule change requested would not prevent carriers from billing customers for wireless 911 service.
The coalition includes Alliance for Technology Access, Arizona Consumer League, National Consumers League, World Institute on Disability, National Emergency Number Association-California Chapter, Crime Victims United, Justice for Murder Victims, California Cellular Phone Owners Association, Florida Consumer Fraud Watch, Center for Public Interest Law, Consumer Action, Consumers First, California Alliance for Consumer Protection, Californians Against Regulatory Excess, United Church of Christ, Utility Consumer Network, Children’s Advocacy Institute and Donald Vial, a former California Public Utilities Commission official.
