Wireless Companies Work To Make Emergency Cell Phone Calls Traceable

More and more people have come to rely on mobile phones for every day communications. But they also play an important role in emergencies and increasingly are used to make 911 calls. So the FCC mandated that carriers deploy E911 services which include location technology to help emergency services locate callers. The problem is that deploying the service is complicated for the networks, the device makers, and the 911 call centers. On top of all this, wireless subscribers need to purchase new handsets that support location technology. In theory new handsets should be commonplace by the 2006 deadline for full compliance. But only if the technology is on all the phones, including the low-end free phones that US subscribers are so addicited to.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.