Regulator will force cellphone companies to upgrade 911 system

[dracodraconis]

Regulator will force cellphone companies to upgrade 911 system

In February, the CRTC proposes to make a decision to require cellphone companies to upgrade equipment so that the geographical location of each 911 call can be determined. Bell, Telus and Rogers are currently facing a class-action lawsuit claiming that the companies misrepresented what the customers are charged for when they pay their 911 fee, given that 911 service is not provided in all areas of Canada. The move is hoped to save lives, given reports of people who called 911 and died because they could not be located. For example, a man in Alberta called 911 after being beaten and left in a field. His body was found 3 days later because they couldn't determine from his message where he was located.

See also: Globe and Mail: Cellphone firms ordered to fix 911 system to save lives

Comments

[lyanna-beth.livejournal.com]

What I'm reading from this is that all cellphones will now have to have some sort of GPS system included. i.e. sky-rocketing price?

[dracodraconis.livejournal.com]

GPS makes it easier, but you can also triangulate on the cellphone's signal by comparing signal strength to multiple towers. Portable ham radio operators used to do it all the time for fun. So long as at least three towers can detect the signal, you can work out the approximate location of the source, at least to a degree sufficient to put you in the ballpark.

[felinaeus.livejournal.com]

Just about all cellphones currently have something called AGPS, or Assisted GPS. this triangualtes based on towers.
The problem, the bigger problem, is that there aren't towers enough in some areas. Some remote areas have one or two towers only, just enough to cover the signal area. But even if repeaters are present, the 'fix' on your location isn't all that accurate. It can place you in a zone, but not where you are. Emergency responders would be sent to scour an area quite large. If there's only one tower or repeater in the area, they would have to look in the entire coverage area.

As someone who works with cellphones from a provider standpoint, trying to upgrade the network in rural areas to accomodate non-GPS cells or devices is something I think would cost way more than any of the providers could cover, even with the fees as they are.

[dracodraconis.livejournal.com]

Good points. Three-point triangulation based on a noisy signal wouldn't be terribly accurate, and even GPS alone has a limited resolution. Combining GPS and triangulation (an approach used by dGPS to achieve sub-meter resolution) can achieve a far more accurate result. But with only one or two towers and no GPS, that certainly can leave a huge area to search.

Figures of $50 million have been quoted to upgrade the system, but that may be a conservative estimate, with the real price being much higher.