911 Call Centers Won't Be Ready For E911 Deadline

from the too-much-spending-on-boots... dept

Last year we had a story about how the money that NY was supposedly collecting for E911 service (so police have the ability to locate mobile phone callers), was instead put into "dry cleaning bills, ballpoint pens, travel, car leases, grounds maintenance for precincts and winter boots." In response to this revelation, a bill was introduced in NY State to give more money to governments that don't divert the funds. You read that right, the plan to save the system was to give more money to governments that actually do what they're supposed to - rather than throwing away money on other things. So, is it really any surprise to find out now that a new study shows that 50% of all 911 emergency call centers won't be ready in time for the deadline? Apparently, they need more money. Perhaps if they hadn't squandered the money specifically earmarked for this purpose there wouldn't be a problem. It sounds like many of the call centers haven't even started the process of getting ready, despite knowing about the deadline for many years. The wireless carriers have fulfilled their end of the bargain and should all be ready when the December 31, 2005 deadline hits. It's just the local governments that have been ignoring the mandate in favor of spending money elsewhere. In the meantime, don't be surprised if the E911 fees on your mobile phone bill go up as the local governments need to make back all the money that went into those boots and ballpoint pens. Hope those new boots are comfy and the ballpoint pens write smoothly.
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


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    Beck, 10 Feb 2004 @ 7:05am

    Mobile Carrier Fees

    Don't know about E911 fees, but this month Verizon started a new .40 charge on my wireless bill to pay the costs of cell phone number portability. I haven't switched carriers, but apparently I get to pay for all of the people who do switch.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Oliver Wendell Jones, 10 Feb 2004 @ 10:31am

      Re: Mobile Carrier Fees

      $0.40? You're lucky. Sprint PCS is charging me $1.10 per phone for each of two phones on my account, or $2.20. I'm paying more than 5x what you are...

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 10 Feb 2004 @ 4:22pm

      Re: Mobile Carrier Fees

      Yeah, really. I don't have any kids, how come I have to pay for all these schools?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Andrew Klossner, 10 Feb 2004 @ 11:06am

    state govt, not federal

    A closer read of the article shows that the bill was introduced, not in Congress, but in the New York state legislature.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Jim, 10 Feb 2004 @ 8:51pm

    mobile carrier fees

    The exact nature of the article is not the fees for E911, but rather, the clasic attitude of "government". Here in my own community in SW Washington State, we have regularly paid into a small reserve fund for the day when our landfill (dump) was full and other means would have to be done.

    One of our county commisioners, when that reserve fund was transfered to another use, when pressed stated that it was "Their money" Huh ? Where did that money come from.
    In NY, that is just normal, whether it is Federal, State or Local.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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.