I wonder how many Americans fired up their cellular phones last Thursday morning to see if a call to 911 would go through. I know I did.
If ABC’s Nov. 12 “Primetime Live” segment didn’t put the fear of God into everyone who ever went wireless for safety’s sake, it at least should give pause to carriers that may be guilty of not allowing emergency calls to go through no matter what, regardless of subscriber affiliation or no affiliation at all. It also should convince those home- or business-owners with NIMBY attitudes that part of the reason 911 calls don’t connect may rest on their shoulders.
The wireless industry made a less-than-stellar showing during Sam Donaldson’s persistent questioning. From the head of CTIA, who tried to explain the technological barriers to ubiquitous 911 service, to a disguised cellular exec, who admitted that some carriers continue to block 911 calls as a matter of competitive course, the industry was portrayed as a writer of checks its bank can’t cash.
I empathized with the Southern California woman who was being carjacked near Beverly Hills when her phone failed her, leaving her with two gunshot wounds and several years of unrequited fear. No 911 in Beverly Hills? What’s up with that?
There is no question that the show was going for both consumer reaction and ratings, and that most of the interviews ended up on the cutting room floor. The network did not interview on air any 911 personnel, although both CTIA and the Ad Hoc Alliance for Public Access to 911 urged Primetime staffers to do so. And Donaldson also did not speak with any of the 60,000 callers per day who reach emergency services via wireless devices.
Little play was given to local-jurisdiction moratoria that hold new antenna sitings hostage. The industry and the FCC have talked themselves spitless to such government holdouts, but for aesthetic and other reasons, not many new sticks are going up, despite the legal wherewithal to do so. Will the yak shows do another segment when the mayor’s daughter gets caught out late at night with no access to the police?
There is some disagreement between the ad hoc group, now lobbying its position regarding “strongest-signal” transmission of 911 calls at the FCC, and the wireless industry that contends the trick won’t work. Technology problems will be remedied. But if carriers continue to hold out because some callers aren’t “service initialized,” that’s a crime.
Oh, yes … my call did go through.
