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A short circuit for cellular E911

Most U.S. mobile phone companies have met a FCC mandate to provide location information to 911 operators for millions of wireless subscribers. However, it's taking longer than expected to get emergency call centers or Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) outfitted with the technology and databases to make use of this location information.

If you have ever dialed 911 from your cell phone, how quickly were responders able to identify your location?

Called 911 from my cell phone while traveling across Mississippi between Jackson, MS & Memphis, TN. Location was described to responders by local landmarks with immediate recognition and response. First police vehicle on scene within 1-2 minutes of call.

I was involved in an accident on Friday and when I called 911 from my phone (Cingular), They asked for my location and other info and an officer was on scene about 5 minutes later. there weren't any injuries so I was expecting it to take along time and was surprised to see him show up so quickly

I've used it a couple of times, I just assume that they will not know exactly where I am and try to have them available. It helps if the local dispatcher is familiar with the area especially a simi-rual area with a lot of commuters who may not be as familiar with their own back yard as the metro area they migrated from.

I've always made it a habit to include my location as one of the first bits of information passed in an emergency communication. I've done this for decades as a Ham operator, and similar procedures were taught in the military.

I've made only two 911 calls via cell, and one was with an E911-capable phone. But I'm sure it's because I provided my exact location for both calls that emergency services arrived in less than two minutes.

I was on the phone for 5 minutes to a "clearing house" (for lack of a better word) while they tried to determine which local 911 to call....

I use Vonage and I have the E911 on my home line. I wonder if these mandates will benefit the users of VOIP as well. Any idea?

Unless your VOIP box has something to tell its location (GPS or the like), it won't be that automatic. Lingo has us send the address for where the box is. Ironic in my case. I have the address for the box being in Oregon. It's actually in Northern Ireland with me for a while.

In my case, I tell people to use their mobiles. It does help that they would dial 999 or 112 to get emergency help here, so the voip service won't give any false-positive information.

Reading this article did make me wonder about location information on my calls. Especially if I'm close to a border. Will I get the PNSI or the Gardai?

Will be going VoIP in January and considering Earthlink ($20 unlimited), Vonage, or any other service. Going to VOIPreview.com scared me, so I am soliciting any and all commentary on viop service.

Got any opinions?

To tie it back to the E911 conversation, as I understand it, you have to call your (??company - maybe the 911 center?) to notify them of your location. As far as cell phones go, this topic is very discouraging, as I was involved in projects that were held up due to E911 compliance difficulties. As a matter of fact, if this capaiblity had been delayed, our division may still be in business and selling millions of phones to Verizon.

Lingo's not so bad. The one thing they bring to the table is making fixed lines in western europe a local call. Very handy for me!

For E911, the voip companies are required to get your location details, and they submit them to the E911 centre involved. We as customers are required to submit any changes to keep this up to date.

This becomes such an issue, that voip companies have not been allowed to sign up customers in areas without suitable E911 technology.