No solution in sight for tracking 911 calls on cellphones
Last Updated: Friday, July 3, 2009 | 7:09 AM AT
CBC News
Changes ordered by the CRTC to the cellphone industry may not make the jobs of Canada's emergency responders any easier because it will still be difficult to locate the source of calls to 911, according to a technology industry group.
The problem was recently highlighted this week when a 46-year-old Fredericton-area woman had trouble calling for help when her home in Lincoln caught fire.
The woman may owe her life to Patricia Percy, a 911 operator who managed to coax out the address just before the woman passed out. Percy had no idea where the woman was because the province's cellular system is unable to provide information on the caller's location the way it would if the call is made on a traditional landline.
A recent study by IDC Canada Inc. found Canada's 911 system is far behind the United States when it comes to cellphones.
Lawrence Surtees, a vice-president with the company, said the U.S. networks can track a moving cellphone call and trace signals from a roaming mobile, but Canada's new system won't do either.
"And from the standpoint of the public safety and first responders of this country, it's going to continue to make their job harder," Surtees said.
"They scratch their head and can't understand, these companies should be able to do this immediately."
CRTC has ordered changes by February 2010
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunication Commission has ordered improvements to the way cellphones connect to the 911 system by February 2010. By that time, companies will have to equip their cellphone towers to triangulate the location of a call.
Additionally, cellphones equipped with GPS technology will be located via communication satellites.
Surtees said those changes are years late, and still fall short. The wireless companies collect more than $100 million annually to manage these systems, he said.
"But because there's no requirement spelling out exactly how it's to be spent or where on 911, and no auditing, then that money may in fact be used by the wireless companies on other things," Surtees said.
"If that is the case, then yes, every wireless subscriber in Canada is being ripped off to an extent."
But with a third of emergency calls in New Brunswick now coming from mobile phones, Surtees said the new requirements still won't be anywhere near what's now available in the United States.
