FCC working to ensure wireless carriers meet requirements within five years
By Brad Reed
PC World
Copyright 2007 PC World Communications
WASHINGTON — The FCC laid out a series of benchmarks Wednesday in an effort to ensure that wireless carriers meet E911 location accuracy requirements within five years.
Wireless phones relying on network-based technology must provide Public Safety Answering Points (PSAP) with reports on their locations within 100 meters of accuracy for 67 percent of calls, and within 300 meters for 95 percent of calls, by Sept. 11, 2012, according to the order. Phones installed with GPS chips, meanwhile, must provide PSAPs with reports on their locations within 50 meters of accuracy for 67 percent of calls, and within 100 meters for 95 percent of calls, by the same date. The FCC also specified certain benchmarks to measure the carriers’ progress, such as meeting the location accuracy requirements in at least 75 percent of PSAPs a carrier serves by 2010.
“We all know that people are relying on cell phones for more and more of their calls, including calls to 911,” said FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. “The advances in wireless technology allow people to call for help more quickly and from more remote places than ever before. We need to make sure that our location accuracy requirements keep pace with those changes.”
Full Story: Compliance by 2012 more realistic, some say