Report shows E911 holes remain in wireless, VoIP

A new report finds location-based wireless emergency service is not always reliable, one of several structural problems with the nation’s 911 regime that lawmakers and public-safety officials said needs to be overhauled to accommodate new communications technologies and increased emergency calls.
“There is a clear expectation that the PSAP (public safety answering point), as well as traditional first responders, will have consistent and accurate locating data delivered with all wireless 911 calls to the PSAP. The wireless location accuracy performance of the carriers in the designated ‘PSAP Test Area’ did not meet these expectations,” stated the Project Locate report. The findings were released by the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing.
VoIP, cellular fall short
Sens. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) are pushing a bill to amend the Wireless Communications and Public Safety Act of 1999 to require Internet Protocol-enabled voice providers to offer 911 service, including the enhanced capability to locate emergency callers. VoIP providers are in the same situation faced by cellular carriers in the 1990s, which lacked liability protection until Congress put wireless E911 on the same legal ground as wireline carriers. The bill also confirms state and local authority to impose and collect 911 fees from VoIP service providers and requires the National 911 Implementation and Coordination Office to produce a report for Congress on the migration to a national IP-enabled emergency network.
Nelson vowed to work with former telecom policymaker Dale Hatfield to complete a report on wireless E911 location accuracy and other related challenges facing the wireless industry. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin last year ordered Hatfield, a consultant who teaches at the University of Colorado and chairs a Bush administration spectrum reform panel, to cease work on a follow-up report to an independent study he delivered to the agency in 2002.
“Viewed from today’s perspective-nearly five years later-I would note that we have fallen short in terms of implementation,” stated Hatfield, noting the National Emergency Number Association’s disclosure that only 54 percent of the emergency call centers (covering two-thirds of the U.S. population) have the technological means to locate wireless 911 callers.
Martin has yet to respond to questions from Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.), vice-chairman of the House Commerce Committee, on circumstances leading to Hatfield’s dismissal.
Martin terminated Hatfield’s contract without explanation shortly after he briefed FCC staff on problems locating wireless callers inside buildings and in rural areas as well as variances in testing methodology for location accuracy. The FCC cited budget concerns and its own internal expertise as reasons for cutting off funding to Hatfield.
FCC focused on local testing
Martin now says the FCC will rule soon that testing of location-based enhanced 911 wireless accuracy be conducted at local emergency call centers rather than at the state level. The FCC chief also wants to examine a hybrid approach that combines handset GPS satellite and network triangulation technologies. The APSCO International petitioned the FCC for the testing change several years ago.
“We are pleased to hear that chairman Martin is committed to working with the public-safety community and the wireless service providers to ensure that people in crisis can be located and helped as quickly and efficiently as possible,” APCO International President Wanda McCarley said.
Witnesses at the Senate hearing told lawmakers there shouldn’t be new legislation every time a new communications technology arrives.
Jason Barbour, the 911 director of Johnston County, N.C., and APCO’s McCarley said challenges facing 911-technological, funding, staffing and training among them-are critically pressing. It’s not just about locating wireless and VoIP 911 callers.
“There are other information and communications services currently available that 911 is ill-equipped to handle as well,” stated Barbour in written testimony. “Automatic crash notification data from telematics service providers like OnStar; biochemical information from sensors in a subway system; video from bank cameras or video taken by a bystander to a vehicle crash; photos from a cell phone capturing the identity of a criminal. The data is available, but the 911 system simply is not equipped to receive, much less seamlessly share the data with appropriate emergency response agencies. However, increasing public expectations are beginning to demand that we be able to receive text and multimedia messages over a system that was not designed to handle such data.”
Barbour said the next generation 911 system also must accommodate disabled Americans.
McCarley said 911 training is often overlooked and the first budget item cut by local governments.
“Public safety communications grant programs should be used for training, as well as equipment, however the use of these grants should be tied to the acceptance of a nationally accredited standard by the local emergency communications center,” McCarley stated.
The Senate recently voted to speed up availability of $34.5 million for E911 upgrade grants.
“When it comes to public safety and services like E911, we must always strive to do better.