The nation’s largest wireless carrier created another plot twist in the ongoing E911 saga, filing a waiver petition with the Federal Communications Commission last Wednesday asking to change its location technology choice from a network- to a handset-based solution, citing the unavailability of a network solution that will comply with the FCC’s accuracy requirements and deployment timeline.
Verizon Wireless said in its petition that it expended great effort and expense in developing and testing network-based technology, but this testing generated concern as to whether the technology would provide sufficient accuracy. Qwest Wireless filed a similar petition recently, saying it “has not been able to persuade a single network-based solution vendor of interest to the company to do live testing on the Qwest Wireless network.”
Instead, Verizon Wireless and Qwest Wireless want to proceed with an assisted GPS/advanced forward link trilateration handset solution, which Verizon claimed “provie required to file their Phase II plans with the FCC, several network-based solution providers have been working closely with Verizon Wireless under the assumption that their technologies would eventually see wide-scale deployment. Among them were Grayson Wireless and TruePosition Inc.
TruePosition spokesman Michael Amarosa said he had not seen the filing and declined to comment, but George Marble, vice president of marketing for Grayson Wireless, said Verizon’s decision came as a surprise.
“We didn’t have any pre-knowledge of the Verizon direction. We had none whatsoever until it was announced late on Wednesday,” said Marble.
Marble said the company’s system was tested extensively by Verizon and performed adequately.
“For whatever reason, Verizon has decided to take a business direction that is handset oriented, and that is going to be implemented in a time frame beginning roughly mid-year 2002,” but wouldn’t penetrate the market with E911-capable handsets until mid-year 2003, saig has a CDMA handset available for testing in September, which should be available for sale in December. Other handset manufacturers are expected to follow closely behind.
Qualcomm and its subsidiary, SnapTrack Inc., have developed the leading AGPS solution, which Sprint PCS declared months ago it would use. With AGPS, the network essentially provides the handset with additional bits of data that allow the handset to lock onto satellites more promptly and receive satellite signals with greater sensitivity. AFLT is a handset modification incorporating additional software that allows the handset to utilize pilot signals from cell sites for location information. AGPS allows accurate location determination in environments-such as rural areas- where sufficient cell sites are not available for AFLT, Verizon said.
Of course, whether Verizon, Qwest and others will be able to proceed with their new plans is up to the FCC. The agency is faced with a myriad of proposals and requests, all of which stray in some form
